


To Get To Have a Dream

by LovingHyacinth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Female Friendship, Fix-It, Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Dyad (Star Wars), Friends to Lovers, Grief/Mourning, Healing, POV Rose Tico, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey & Rose Tico Are Best Friends, Rey Needs A Hug, Rose Tico Deserved Better, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Soft Ben Solo, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:35:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 75,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22077061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovingHyacinth/pseuds/LovingHyacinth
Summary: Told from Rose's POV.  Rose Tico has spent the past six months after the battle of Exegol working on the Colossus, immersing herself in repairs, making new friends, and starting to heal from the stress and grief of war.  When she gets an urgent message from BB-8 on Tatooine, however, Rose decides to help Rey, who has yet to repair her own broken heart.  Rey is consumed with a search she can barely explain, and Rose agrees to accompany her and a new friend as they seek answers about what really happened at Exegol.As they travel the galaxy with droids, porgs, and an excellent supply of hot cocoa, Rose and Rey work to unravel mysteries of the Force and Rey's past, start to right some of the wrongs that have been festering since before the fall of the Republic, and try to find Ben Solo.  In untangling Rey's destiny, Rose starts to find space to have her own dreams again...and some of those dreams include a new love.
Relationships: BB-8/CB-23, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo, Reylo, Rose Tico/Original Character(s)
Comments: 55
Kudos: 84





	1. The Message

At first, Rose didn’t know why the message was sent to her, or what she was supposed to understand from it.

When CB-23 rolled over, beeping urgently and nudging her to look up from the panel where she was just finishing the final tests on that last coupling, Rose was happy to see the pink and turquoise ball droid, and patted her flat head affectionately. 

“Hey there, SeeBee,” she said. “What brings you down to engineering this time of night?” 

CB-23 gave a long inquisitive whistle.

“Neeku left an hour ago,” Rose explained, referring to her colleague, a friendly green Nikto who had been the lead mechanic on the fueling station for years before she arrived. “He was done and I told him to—” she yawned, “go to bed. It’s nice of you to come down and check on me. Did Neeku ask you to?”

CB-23 beeped a negative, and tilted its head back up at her expectantly, then swiveled it around several times, peering around the corner. 

“No, it’s just me down here. Well, me and the shellfolk,” Rose amended, looking around for the aliens who worked in engineering. She didn’t see any, but given the dim red lighting and their slow movements, it would be hard to spot them. Twice now she had watched her colleague Kaz, full of wild energy, come careening around a corner and fall right over the shellfolk because he couldn’t see them in time.

CB-23 beeped nervously that she didn’t think it was private enough down here to give Commander Tico the message she had for her. 

Rose found the secrecy, the use of her formal military title, and the method of delivery—outside the normal channels—all very strange. The war had officially been over for nearly six months now. Although her former comrades-in-arms were scattered across the galaxy, helping to rebuild and dismantle the last First Order outposts, they were more likely to send her a holo care of the Colossus than to transmit something sensitive to a droid. 

“Oh, well, in that case, you should come with me. I’m just going back to my quarters.”

The faithful little droid bumped along behind Rose as she headed down corridors and up lifts, turns and steps all made familiar now by the six months she’d spent on the Colossus, helping to get the hyperdrive-capable fueling station back to its former glory after the strains of the war. Rose had walked these halls by herself late at night countless times before, her only companion a small yellowish alien who tirelessly scrubbed the floors. When she first arrived on the Colossus, working herself to exhaustion made it easier to sleep at night. 

Lately, though, Rose was working long hours more because she enjoyed getting absorbed in a project, especially with a partner like Neeku. They could fall into long conversations about their childhoods, places they would like to see in the galaxy, even pets they had loved and cared for (and in Neeku’s case, eaten). The green Nikto’s presence was calming, predictable, and endlessly positive in a way that soothed her.  
When she first met him, Rose had wondered if Neeku’s positivity was a bit too much. Surely someone could not be part of the Resistance for a year and be this happy without being under the influence of illicit substances. What exactly was in the water bottle he carried around all the time? Eventually, though, she came to trust that Neeku was exactly who he appeared to be. He wasn’t a spy, or a soldier, or anything other than a truly gifted mechanic. 

Rose liked being around all the Colossus crew, who understood the fight she’d endured, yet had not crossed paths with her during the war, aside from being in the fleet that came to assault Exegol and save everyone at the last moment. The Colossus had arrived on D’Qar after everyone had evacuated the Resistance base there. So their experience of war, while harrowing, was completely different from hers. For all their own struggles and frequent scrapes with the First Order, they were far removed from the worst of the fighting danger. They spent their time trying to scavenge supplies and fuel while seeing the major conflict from a distance. 

None of her new friends on the Colossus could remind her of those unwanted memories, and that was exactly why Rose had chosen to join them.

When she arrived at her quarters, CB-23 was so impatient she could hardly wait for Rose to punch in the code to open the door. “Okay,” said Rose, stepping in after the droid and closing the door. “We’re alone now. You can tell me the message.”

Whatever she expected when CB-23 played the holocron message for her, it wasn’t the projection of Rey.

Rey was sitting cross-legged, leafing through a big book. It looked similar to the old Jedi texts that Rose remembered seeing her study back on the base. Rey was frowning, studying one of the pages with intense concentration on her face. Then suddenly, she gasped in pain, eyes flying wide, as her left hand flew to her upper right arm, where her leather binding had always been in the year that Rose had known her. Only now there wasn’t any leather binding covering the skin.

Rey hissed, slumping over. The book slid off her lap. She took several deep breaths, trying to steady herself, and then slowly peeled her hand off her arm, looking carefully at it. Rose couldn’t tell what, exactly, the other girl was looking for, or hoped to find, or why Rey looked so disappointed as she studied her unblemished arm, twisting it this way and that in the blue light of the recording.

Finally Rey let out a little, half-strangled sob and wiped away tears furiously. “I can’t do this alone,” she said quietly. “I can’t. But there’s no one here to help me.” She straightened her shoulders…and then they slumped again as she started crying more, gasping in gulps of air and weeping, making raw, harsh sounds as she curled into a ball, then fell to her side, as if even sitting up was too much.

“Ben,” she called out. “Ben. You said I wasn’t alone…” Rey shuddered and covered her face with her hands.

The recording then blinked out of existence. Rose sucked air through her teeth, trying to understand what she had just seen. It wasn’t a holo-recording made on purpose by Rey; of that much she was sure. Here was a private moment, one that nobody was meant to see. Yet Rose also realized that was exactly why someone did need to see it, because like her, Rey was another lonely, heartbroken girl trying to put the pieces of her life back together after the supposed victory over the First Order. 

Or Final Order. 

Honestly, Rose wasn’t sure who they were fighting, or why, by the end, and that made Paige’s death ashes in her mouth.

Then CB-23 started the recording over again, on a loop. “I can’t do this alone…”

Rey’s messy, untamable grief hit Rose hard, and brought her back to those first hellish, horrifying moments after she’d learned of Paige’s death. She had hidden behind pipes, abandoned her usual job, to cram herself into whatever niche she could find and weep in private. Rey, right now, looked just as gutted, but without Rose’s burning sense of purpose that had motivated her to keep moving in her most desolate hours.

Now here was a message that reminded Rose all over again of the worst of the war. Rey looked to still be in the same clothes that she was the last time Rose saw her, though it was hard to be sure. Her hair was still pulled back from her face. She looked considerably thinner, but that might have just been a trick of the light and the angles.

As the holo came to an end, with Rey calling out Ben’s name, clearly expecting no response, Rose’s eyes welled up and her hand unconsciously drifted up, her fingers running over the carvings in her necklace. 

“Why are you showing me this?” Rose asked the little droid. “Who sent you this recording?”

BB-8, she beeped. You need to go to Rey. He says you have to come to them on Tatooine. 

“Why do I need to go to Tatooine?” she asked. “What can I even do?”

CB-23 rolled back and forth a few times and let out a long, low whistle. She wasn’t sure either.

“Thank you for giving me the message, SeeBee,” she said aloud. Rose rubbed the droid’s ball unit affectionately, just the way she’d seen Poe do to his BB unit. “Tell BeeBee…tell him I’ll talk to him soon.”

CB-23 let out a curious whistle, following Rose down the corridor towards her sleeping quarters.

“I don’t know,” Rose said. “I want to help, but I’m not sure what I can do.”

But BB-8 said you’re the only one who can help. You’re the only one who knows what to do.

“Oh SeeBee,” Rose sighed. “I wish that were true. I don’t know what to do at all.”

CB-23 gave a skeptical whistle. Rose thanked her again, and CB-23 rolled out of the small bunk, closing the door again after her.

Rose had meant to go straight to bed, but now, instead of feeling exhausted, she was jumpy, edgy, sparking with extra energy. She had never imagined her path would intersect again with Rey. Now, though, Rose found herself wondering, for the first time, if perhaps she was in a unique position to help the Jedi girl because she had, almost accidentally, become Rey’s confidant.

One night, shortly after Exegol, Rose had come onto the Falcon to ask Chewie if he’d seen the crate of transponders she thought she’d packed up and set aside. She found him sitting around the dejarik table with Rey, one gangly, hairy arm slung around her protectively as the young woman spoke, looking like she was almost in a daze. Rose hadn’t meant to interrupt, but BB-8 spotted her and rolled up to her, practically herding her over to the table. Once Rey grabbed her hand like a lifeline, squeezing it as she talked, Rose couldn’t leave.

In broken whispers, while staring straight ahead, Rey told them how Ben Solo, Leia’s own son, had been the Supreme Leader, but had been under the influence of Palpatine since before he was born, and in fact had never burned down the Jedi Temple and killed his fellow students, had fought against the monstrous creation of Starkiller Base, and had been innocent of so much of what they thought was his fault. He was even fighting against Darth Vader cultists by the end, starting to turn to the light when he didn’t think there would be anyone there to welcome him. 

Even BB-8 was moaning sadly by that point, rolling back and forth repetitively in distress.

Most of all, Rose wished Rey hadn’t told her that Ben Solo came back and saved her, fought Palpatine, literally brought her back to life. Chewie leaned back his head and howled a long, long time when he heard about how Ben fought, crawled, took on countless opponents, faced Palpatine himself, and gave his life for Rey. As Rey stared blankly ahead, tears shining in her eyes, and Chewie moaned inconsolably, Rose realized for the first time that Chewie would have known Ben since he was a baby. 

BB-8 had gone to Poe the next morning and requested—well, no, he didn’t request. He told Poe that he would be leaving with Rey and might not come back for a while. 

Now Rose was perhaps the only one, besides Chewie and BB-8, who even understood just how alone and hollow Rey felt. Rose suspected that a Wookie and a droid would not necessarily understand how a human woman would feel.

After Chewie had talked to Rey that night, not even Lando could convince Chewie to hang around the others and help with the rebuilding. He just wanted to go back to Kashyyk and mourn. 

Rose couldn’t blame Chewie, as she was doing the same thing, hiding out on the Colossus, a massive refueling station, with a group of Resistance fighters she hadn’t known during the war. 

Nobody on the Colossus could remind her of Crait, or Canto Bight, or any of the battles or the temporary bases or the losses that followed. None of them knew what it was like to watch Wedge Antilles slumped against crates on the edge of their base, reeling from losing his stepson Snap in the last battle, trying to comfort his wife Norra as she sobbed in his arms. None of them knew what it was like to watch Ransolm Casterfo struggle to recover from the torture he’d undergone in First Order captivity. None of them were there to see the smile slip from Lando’s face when the biometrics had revealed that Jannah wasn’t his daughter after all.

Even as Rose had protested to the little droid that she wasn’t able to help Rey, a plan was starting to form in the back of her mind. She was good at repairing ships, and in the process, Rose had been repairing herself. Apparently not everyone had been able to do the same. Sometimes you needed a mechanic who could see the systems and imagine them working in an entirely new way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose spends time thinking about BB-8's message while talking to her friends aboard the Colossus and makes a decision about what to do next.

“Hiya Rose!” called out Kaz as she stumbled into Aunt Z’s the next morning, rubbing her eyes. “Join us!”

“Yes, you should most definitely take your food with us!” added Neeku, the friendly Nikto who was the head mechanic on the Colossus. “We would like to have your company.”

Rose grinned at her friends as she slid into a booth in the Colossus’ premiere—and only—on-board tavern. “I’ll have my usual,” she called over to the proprieter.

“Got it, girlie!” shouted back Aunt Z. Ever since Rose had fixed her malfunctioning cooler unit, the large female Gilliand had been happy to make a porridge specialty from Hays Minor every morning. 

“Hey Rose, do you want to come to my quarters this evening?” asked Torra, pushing a cup of caf over to her. “They just uploaded a new level for Navigatrix 3000 that is supposed to be fantastic.”

“Hey, why aren’t you inviting me?” pouted Kaz.

“Oh, we’re also going to watch the latest episode of Nerfherder and the Princess. I know you can’t stand that show.”

“That’s true,” said Kaz. He slung an arm around Neeku’s shoulders. “Well, Neeku, I guess it’s a girl’s night then. We will just have to make our own fun by ourselves.”

Rose couldn’t repress her smile at the prospect of another night hanging out with Torra Doza, who had rapidly become her closest friend on the Colossus. As much as she liked Kazuda Xiono, the former Senator’s-son-turned-New-Republic-pilot-turned-Resistance-spy-and-mechanic-turned-pilot, sometimes she just wanted to spend time with another girl close to her own age. Ever since Rose had found Torra’s strange six-legged pet, Buggles, hiding inside an access hatch down in the engine room, Torra had been very protective of her. 

It felt nice to be looked after by another girl, almost like Torra was the younger sister she never had—even though the two women looked nothing alike. Instead of Rose’s black hair and dark eyes, and soft cheeks that dimpled into a smile, Tora had light brown eyes that were almost grey in certain light, and brown hair she wore back in two buns, with several turquoise markings underneath her eyes that complemented her turquoise and orange flight suit. Torra was slight where Rose was soft, but her heart was big and the ace pilot had a knack for looking out for others and encouraging them. She and Rose had shared many long heart-to-heart conversations late at night, even occasionally going up in ships together during their off hours, just tumbling around in space and enjoying themselves.

“Rose, you do look very tired today,” noted Neeku, as she tried to stifle a yawn and failed. “Did you get a good rest last night?”

“Yeah, Neeku, you have a point,” piped up Kaz. “Rose, you really look pretty beat. I hope you’re not coming down with something. You have to take better care of yourself!”

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” Rose admitted.

“Something on your mind?” asked Torra.

CB-23 beeped something concerned-sounding from over by Kaz’s leg, and Rose resisted the temptation to kick her to indicate that she should be quiet. Rose didn’t want the droid, however loyal she might be to Kaz, to tell the entire group about Rey’s message, or worse still, replay it.

“I finished the modifications on the F-group subroutine,” Rose explained. “I got into a good spot and I just wanted to keep working until I was done.” She stifled a yawn. “It should be working fine now, though. I finished it.”

“Indeed!” chirped Neeku. “I saw the diagnostics this morning. We are nearly done all the repairs and improvements that we had on our checklist. After this morning’s tune-up, there will be nothing left to do.”

“All of them?” asked Rose with a sinking feeling. “All the repairs? There isn’t anything else we can do? Maybe I could take another look at improving efficiency in the section 6 power converters—”

“Rose,” interrupted Kaz, looking at her shrewdly. “Aren’t you happy to be done?”

CB-23 rolled back and tilted her head up at Rose, swiveling back and forth. Rose struggled to find the words, uncomfortably aware of the droid’s stare.

“Well, yes. But…I just thought this project would take longer. Another month or two.”

“How could it take that long, given all the hours you have been putting into it?” asked Torra. “The Colossus has never been in such good shape, not since it was in Imperial service. My father is very pleased with your work.”

Rose opened her mouth and closed it again. Aunt Z brought over her bowl of porridge and a cup of caf, and she was so eager to put food in her mouth and thereby avoid answering Torra’s question that she burned her tongue without even thinking about it, and sputtered.

“Rose, you know you’ll always have a place here,” Kaz said. “Just because the Colossus is in excellent shape now doesn’t mean we won’t need you in the future.”

“Thank you,” Rose said. 

“No, thank YOU,” said Neeku. “Without your help, we would still be putting out fires. Literally!”

Torra swiftly changed the subject to the latest hijinks of her fellow ace pilots, seeing Rose’s evident discomfort. Rose ate the rest of her meal in silence and walked away quickly, dodging CB-23 even as she gave out a low, plaintive whistle.

\---------

Constantly aware of CB-23’s curious gaze on her, Rose found it difficult to keep her composure that afternoon as she helped Neeku and Kaz put the final systems back online. Exactly how a droid could be so sensitive to human emotions was a mystery Rose couldn’t solve. She wondered, not for the first time, if perhaps BB units were more intuitive than other models. Or perhaps they were just less absorbed with their own agendas. She had never met an astromech that didn’t have a mind of its own, and a determination to follow its own particular plans, whether that be to sass its owner or rumble off in its own direction on a desert planet to find a hermit Jedi, as R2-D2 had reportedly once done.

Rose found herself constantly looking down or around and discovered the little pink-and-turquoise rollie underfoot, or nearby, tilting her head as if to ask what Rose intended to do. “Shh,” Rose hissed at one point, when Kaz and Neeku were caught up in hollering at each other to find the switch that would stop the deadly ignition sequence Kaz had inadvertently triggered. 

“If you keep coming around me, they’ll figure out something’s wrong. We need to keep it a secret, remember?”

CB-23 whirred and whistled.

“I know it’s urgent,” Rose hissed back. “But I still don’t know what I want to say. Or do.”

“Did you say something, Rose?” asked Neeku, suddenly popping up at her elbow. The shrieking alarms had finally silenced.

“No, no, just talking to myself. Behind pipes. Doing talking. I mean.”

“We nearly are finished with the hardest parts!” Neeku cheered. “Only two more checks to go!”

Just at that moment, a small child dashed out from behind the bulkhead, startling Rose. “Oh!” she said. “I didn’t realize you were down here.”

“Sorry!” shrieked Elia, one of the children who had come on board the Colossus in the last two years. She had dark brown skin and light green eyes, like her older brother, and wild, thick, curly hair that Rose secretly envied. Elia grinned up at her. “I’m playing hide and seek with Kel.” 

“Maybe don’t play down here,” Rose suggested. “We’re still testing systems.”

“Okay!” Elia said, scampering away.

Rose thought that they really needed a chance to have some schooling, some sort of formal education. When Kaz responded she realized she’d spoken that thought aloud without meaning to do so.

“True, but I don’t know if regular schooling would even be what they need most,” he said. “I wonder if they’re going to have any Jedi temples again someday. That might be the right place for them.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, I think Elia’s Force-sensitive?” Kaz said reluctantly. “They’re from Tehar. Their planet was attacked by Kylo Ren. He was searching for something…something to do with the Force. Elia has dreams that predict things.” He shrugged. “I’m not really sure what to make of it, but after what I’ve seen these past few years…”

“After Palpatine came back from the dead, it would be difficult to deny the importance and reality of the Force,” Neeku chirped. “But without any Jedi left in the galaxy, it would be hard to find someone who could help them.”

Rose thought of Rey, and imagined convincing her that here was the purpose she needed. Just as Rose had poured herself into the Resistance after losing Paige, perhaps in setting up a Jedi academy, Rey could find a new purpose as well.

But she didn’t say any of those things. Instead Rose said, “I know someone who knows the Force, even though she’s not a Jedi. Have either of you ever heard of a place called Takodana?”

\------

After she’d left Kaz and Neeku—who were still arguing over if a particular readout showed a sufficient improvement in coaxium conversion rates or if they needed to keep tweaking the hyperdrive—Rose found herself in a melancholy mood. She couldn’t get to Torra’s quarters in the tower fast enough. Hanging out with Torra would be exactly what she needed.

Although Rose was sure that Maz’s growing, rag-tag group of war orphans would take to Kal and Elia, and the Force-sensitive woman would surely be a good guardian, Rose still wasn’t sure if she had somehow lied by omission in only mentioning Maz. But Finn these days didn’t seem very interested in pursuing his Force sensitivity—he was needed so badly so many other places—and Rey wasn’t in any kind of shape to mentor children.

At least, that was what BB-8 had made sure to tell her, and now Rose wished she didn’t know what had happened to Rey.

In the weeks after Exegol, Rose frequently found herself wishing she didn’t know so much. If only she hadn’t heard from Jannah how nearly the whole First Order was child soldiers, conscripted and brainwashed. If only she hadn’t visited one of the stations that Finn set up for the former Stormtroopers, who all looked a bit dazed now that their conditioning and brain-scrapping had been abruptly stopped. If only she hadn’t heard the Stormtroopers stories as they submitted biometrics to Dr. Kalonia, hoping that the results might eventually help them find their former families. If only that new Resistance guy who knew way too much about Sith and First Order cloning technology hadn’t given them the debrief on what they had been able to glean about Palpatine, with Rey adding in a few pertinent facts here and there, her face a blank mask that it seemed only Rose noticed was a little too stoic for the Jedi Savior. If only Rose hadn’t met Vi Moradi one night, and heard from her, as Vi drunk herself into a stupor, how even someone far up in the ranks—Archex—had been able to break free of his conditioning at an immense price, try to take down Phasma, and eventually helped the Resistance establish a base on Batuu.

If only Torra Doza hadn’t, one night late in her quarters after a marathon of back episodes of Nerfherder and the Princess, confided in Rose how conflicted she felt about the way people were talking about the First Order and the war. Torra, as the daughter of an ex-Imperial and a Rebel pilot turned Resistance fighter, had her own perspective on how ordinary people could get caught up in war. She explained to Rose the full story behind how their friend Tam went to the First Order but stayed a good person, being manipulated and struggling to do the right thing. Apparently even someone whose parents had both fought on the side of the Resistance, and had spent the past year risking her life as part of a Resistance cell, could only take so many self-congratulatory holonet news stories.

It had been a lot easier for Rose to be proud of her sister, her other half, when she was sure who the enemy was. That was before she had learned so much that made Rose even more angry, against the whole galaxy, against every complicit Senator who had supported the First Order and funneled credits towards them when they were just a shadow organization on the margins of the galaxy, against the New Republic officials who had refused to listen to Leia Organa and take this threat seriously, against Hux who had waited so long to turn traitor and feed them information to the point it was almost useless, against Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems and every other war profiteer. 

It seemed Torra was the only other person on the Colossus who was having the same conflicted feelings. Everyone else was—rightly—pleased to be alive and giddy with the Resistance’s unlikely victory.

Torra had, as always, the best snacks waiting, and after they crammed themselves full of sweets, the girls dove into the holo game. This new level had players trying to guide a shuttle through whirling gravity wells and on hyperspace jumps that were tricky and unpredictable, and it took the better part of an hour before Rose suddenly realized the fiendishly difficult game was based on the route to Exegol—whereupon she immediately beat the level from memory, to Torra’s chagrin.

“I’m not sure about making war into a game,” said Rose, collapsing on the floor with her back against the side of Torra’s bed. Torra’s pet Buggles hopped into her lap, cooing and cuddling against her as Rose patted absently. “It doesn’t feel like a game when you’re actually fighting it.”

“No, it doesn’t,” said Torra. “But I think the simulations are a good way to improve my skills.”

“True,” said Rose. “My sister and I used to practice flying in a simulation at home.”

“You don’t talk much about Paige,” said Torra. It was a statement, not a question.

“Not as much as I think about her,” said Rose, taking out her half of the Haysian smelt necklace and rubbing it between her fingers. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m a coward.”

“I cannot see you that way,” said Torra. “You’re a hero! You’ve fought countless times. You even saved Finn on Crait and nearly died doing it! You infiltrated the Supremacy to try to save the Resistance fleet! Rose, nobody could see you as a coward.”

“Yes, but now I’m running away from everyone I knew during the war and I’m hiding on the Colossus. It’s hard to deal with the memories when you’re around people who share them.” She thought of Rey again in the holo, so clearly in pain both physical and emotional, miserable about being alone. 

Buggles snuggled against Rose even closer, as if he could sense that she needed comfort. Uncharacteristically, Torra remained silent and let Rose just think, working out what she needed to understand for herself.

“Maybe Paige would have disagreed, though,” Rose said at last. “Maybe she would have said that I was right coming here, making new friends, doing something that matters. But,” she sighed, shoulders drooping, “now I don’t know what to do. My job is done. I don’t know what’s the right thing to do next.”

“You still have your friends on the Colossus,” said Torra. “This doesn’t have to be temporary. My father would happily hire you. Or…you could go freelance! Work with a company that designs and builds ships. Make something! Build something new! I think my father still has some contacts on Corellia.”

Rose considered the idea. It had its appeal, but…

“Torra,” she said, “I heard from an old friend yesterday. They need my help—well, they need someone’s help, and I’m not sure I can do anything. They’re so far beyond me. Their problem…their abilities…”

“Is it Finn?” asked Torra.

“No!” Rose said emphatically, jumping straight upright so fast she hit her head on the bottom of Torra’s upper bunk bed. “No, it isn’t.”

“Okay, okay,” the younger girl replied, holding up her hands. “I just thought…he was who you talked about the most when you first got here.”

Rose sighed. “Well, based on the holonet news updates, I think Finn is just fine. He and Poe don’t need my help. The Stormtrooper rehabilitation program seems to be going well, and that’s not something I really know anything about. This is another friend…one who is hurt more by the war and what happened at the end. What happened on Exegol.” 

Rose stopped abruptly, afraid to say too much more and reveal what Rey had told her in confidence about what had happened to Ben Solo, or about BB-8’s message. If Rey wasn’t directly telling anyone how distraught she was, then Rose certainly had no business spreading it abroad. 

Torra peered at her closely. “Someone hurt by the war? Wasn’t Finn hurt? I thought you said he was an ex-Stormtrooper who defected.”

“He was,” Rose admitted. “But…I think fighting the First Order made that all okay for him. It was enough for him. He was satisfied to have won, but I don’t feel like we won anything. I mean, we DID,” she added hastily, careful not to hurt Torra’s feelings, given all her family had sacrificed for the Resistance, “and it was a good fight and the right one to have, but…I don’t know. Finn already lost so much he was happy to take back whatever he could, and it was through the war that he made friends for the first time. He discovered he was Force-sensitive. He found other Stormtroopers who defected. But the war didn’t begin my life. It ended it. It ended my family. And now I’m still making a new life, and Finn…he’s defined by his role in the Resistance. I’m not sure that’s how I want to be for the rest of my life.”

Torra nodded solemnly. “That makes sense,” she said. “You’re so much more than a war hero.”

Rose leaned against the bed and played with Buggles’ fur, struggling to articulate something so inchoate she could hardly put it into words even for herself, never mind for Torra.

The problem was what she knew that Torra, and Finn, did not, and maybe could not. Rose knew far too much about the real reasons behind the war to feel good about fighting it. It was a trap, the whole thing, engineered from before the end of the last war, to ensure that the Rebellion could never really win. The Empire, and Palpatine, had set the terms of the game. It was like playing dejarik with a rigged table, or sabacc with a player who had an extra card up their sleeve.

The entire war had been a horrible, cruel joke, an elaborate revenge that had destroyed families, like hers, who had nothing to do with the Skywalkers, or the Palpatines, or the Jedi or Sith, or their generations-long enmities. The fallout had been immense, with entire planets—systems—wiped out, species enslaved, children stolen. 

That was probably why she and Finn had to go their separate ways. As much as she’d abruptly and passionately fallen in love with Finn when they’d first met, Rose had to reevaluate that connection later, when watching him gleefully gun down his fellow Stormtroopers, and run after Rey and Poe, with hardly a backwards glance at her. Finn was alongside her for much of the war, but it was like they had a completely different experience. He had relished battle, and even more than that, been so willing to sacrifice himself that if she hadn’t spoken up, he and Jannah would have gone down needlessly on the capital ship they were destroying. She had thought, when she risked her life to save him on Crait, that she was saving what she loved. Now Rose realized she was trying to make sure that, after having lost Paige, she never had to watch anyone else die again.

Love wasn’t the same thing as being afraid to lose.

All Rose knew was that she was able to forget the war for hours at a time when she was elbow-deep in some system, slowly reworking the Colossus from the most basic systems outward. When she had gone to Captain Doza last month with her proposal for increasing fuel efficiency, he had beamed at her and she felt an elating rush of pride. Torra had insisted on a celebratory drink afterwards, and one drink at Aunt Z’s had turned to an entire party, the first one that Rose had really felt joyful during since before leaving Hays Minor.

Just last week, Rose had three nights of sleep uninterrupted by nightmares. To be sure, the fourth night of that streak was interrupted by a dream in which she was riding a fathier, racing Paige, through grass fields dotted with yellow flowers, and she woke up with tears in her eyes. Rose still wasn’t sure if that counted as a nightmare, though. It felt like healing.

“You’ve come so far since you’ve arrived,” said Torra abruptly. “You smile a lot more now. You seem happy here. I think maybe you’re so upset about your friend because you’re doing well, and she’s not.”  
“Right,” agreed Rose, and then turned abruptly to face Torra. “What do you mean ‘she’?”

“It’s Rey, isn’t it,” said Torra. “She sent you a message.”

“No,” Rose admitted. “BB-8—her droid—sent it to me. But it’s Rey who needs my help. Or someone’s help.”

“BB-8 is Rey’s droid?” asked Torra. “But I know BB-8. Orange and white rollie, right? I thought he was Kaz’s droid, before CB-23 joined us.”

“No, he was Poe’s droid,” said Rose. “Poe Dameron, Resistance pilot. Poe said he just lent him to Kazuda when he was first on the Colossus.”

“It sounds like BB-8 doesn’t belong to anyone,” Torra remarked. “He goes with whoever needs him most.”

“Poe sure was possessive of his droid,” Rose remarked, sharper than she intended. “He once almost bit my head off when a power cell malfunctioned and zapped BB while he was charging. You would have thought I’d built the power cell myself and deliberately rigged it to hurt his droid!”

“Well, BB-8 is pretty smart,” said Torra. “If he’s sending a message to the Colossus and thinks you can help Rey, he’s probably right. You’re good at fixing things, and you’re a good friend, Rose Tico.”

Rose’s eyes welled up unexpectedly with tears, for the second time in the rotation. “Thank you. You’re a good friend too.” She hugged Torra. “How did you know it was Rey?”

“Why else would you say it was beyond you?” Torra shrugged. “The only thing you’re ever not sure about is anything to do with the Force. I see it on your face if you talk about Rey, or General Organa, or even Finn. But if BB-8 wants you to come, then you’re who is needed. Never underestimate a droid.” Torra then grinned as an idea occurred to her, brightening her eyes with fun. “Oh, and you should take CB-23 with you. She will like seeing BB-8 again.”

“Are you sure? Isn’t she Kaz’s droid?”

Torra laughed. “Yes, but trust me, she’ll convince Kaz to let her go. She can be very persuasive. If for some reason he needs some extra incentive, I’ll talk to him. Now! Let’s watch that episode of Nerfherder and the Princess before it gets too late. You’re going to need to get up early tomorrow, but I won’t let you leave for Tatooine without watching with me. It’s so good and you’re the only person on the platform who loves it as much as I do!”

“Yes,” said Rose with a smile. “I love a good love story that has a happy ending.”

“You don’t know it has a happy ending yet,” argued Torra as she slid the chip into her projector and the opening credits started. “It could end tragically!”

“No,” Rose argued, suddenly more sure than she had been of anything since Paige died. “I know it ends happily. It just has to end happily. That’s what matters, and that’s what is true. They’re going to save each other and make everything right.” 

As the opening bars of the music swelled and Buggles started to snore slightly on her lap, a nice warm weight, Rose realized, suddenly, exactly why BB-8 was right to reach out to her. She was the only person who could help Rey, because she was the only one who knew how to really win the war. By saving what they loved.

Rose wasn’t sure how, but she was going to help Rey do exactly that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose arrives on Tatooine, with some new friends. She sees how Rey has been living in the abandoned homestead, but when a mysterious stranger shows up with Rey, her questions only multiply.

Five standard rotations later, Rose did her last pre-flight systems check while Neeku loaded the last two crates of supplies on board. Captain Doza had insisted that she had earned the shuttle with her work on the Colossus, although Rose suspected it was worth more than the credits she had given him. But Torra gave her a wink and a nudge that said to Rose it was important to let her father be generous, so Rose accepted as graciously as she could. Almost everyone she had befriended in her time on the Colossus offered something for her to take, either by way of supplies, spare parts, rations, or even the occasional keepsake. It was extremely generous of her Colossus friends to offer so much to her. Rose wasn’t sure what she would find on Tatooine, and everything she had heard about the desert planet made her think that resources could be very scarce. 

She had already changed out of her regular tan jumpsuit into a new outfit more appropriate for Tatooine: laced-up soft gray boots that were far more comfortable than her usual work boots and that would keep out sand, form-fitting gray slacks and a red tunic over it, belted at the waist. The tunic came complete with a hood that she could pull up to shield herself from the sun or sandstorms. Torra had combed out her hair and braided it, tucking it around her head to keep it out of her face. Rose was surprised for a second when she saw her reflection and realized how pretty she looked. 

After years of being a refugee, and then an engineer and pilot at war, Rose wasn’t used to taking care of herself, or worrying about being pretty. She had to admit it was ironic to finally take pleasure in her own looks just as she was going off to a desert planet to console a heartbroken friend, which was no time for caring about appearances.

When Rose descended the ramp to say her final goodbyes, Kaz gave her the first hug, enveloping her in his lanky frame. “I hope you come back to visit us soon,” he said. “We’ll be back on Castilon in another few rotations, thanks to you. If you ever need fuel or repairs in the Outer Rim, we’ll always be here for you.”

“Thank you,” she said, right before Neeku gave her a quick hug, sniffling slightly. 

“I hate saying goodbye to a friend!” he wailed. “Come back, Rose! Be careful!”

“I will,” she promised. 

“Take good care of everything on board,” Neeku said. “I’ve left you a surprise in one of the crates!”

Rose silently hoped it wasn’t one of those weird biting fish he was so fond of gulping down whole. 

Neeku, overcome by emotion, then had to turn away, his normally upbeat expression simply crushed as his eyes welled up. The others who had come to see her off were all much calmer, even Torra. She gave Rose a comm link.

“It’s based on the cloaked binary beacon tech you shared with us from the Resistance,” she explained. “It’s untraceable, and I have the other comm. Call me every week if you can!”

“Absolutely!” said Rose, hugging her fiercely. “I’ll miss you so much!”

Kaz gave CB-23 a little pep talk, telling his little buddy to be careful and watch out for Rose. Finally, Rose and her droid—it was funny to think of herself as having a droid companion—got onto the shuttle and sealed the door. Rose settled into the pilot chair as CB-23 plugged into the mainframe to help with co-piloting duties. 

As she lifted off and watched the group of friends—a surprisingly large group, too—wave to her, Rose felt a rush of gratitude and a smile blossom across her face as she turned the shuttle towards the stars. For some reason, in the Resistance she had been one of many, someone important, rising to the rank of Commander, but so alone after Paige had died. She never was entirely sure where her place was. Now she had found a place, a community, who really saw her, and who were survivors like her. It was her turn to help Rey find the same.

\---  
Two hours into the flight, as she was speeding through hyperspace, Rose discovered the surprise Neeku had packed for her. CB-23 bumped into one of the crates and a flurry of chirping gave it away. Rose left the pilot’s chair and ripped off the lid of the crate, which she could now see had air holes in the top. Curled up on the bottom in a little makeshift nest of loose wires and shed feathers was a mother porg and two baby chicks.

“Hey there!” she exclaimed, extending one finger to ruffle their fur gently. The momma porg cooed and leaned into her hands. 

Neeku had left a letter in the crate, explaining that Kaz had just yesterday found this nest inside a freighter he was repairing. The freighter came from Batuu, he wrote. We think they must have come from the colony that has been growing there ever since the Falcon visited that Resistance base. I think the porgs will have a better home with you than on the Colossus. Just be careful! They like to pull out wires to make their nests and once they get into the pipes of a ship you cannot get them out. But besides all the danger to ships, they are wonderful friends!

Rose laughed and cuddled one of the babies. She spent the rest of the flight trying to come up with names for them. She decided to call the mother porg Tran, since she kept on flying straight into the transistor box the minute she trusted Rose enough to leave her nest. One of the baby porgs Rose named Ackie, since that was the sound of her little cough. Stuck on a name for the third one, Rose finally decided that she would let Rey name that one. It had a sort of birthmark on its fur, a dark black squiggle that almost looked like a heart. Rose thought Rey always seemed most comfortable around those who were younger, smaller, and more vulnerable than her, like the droid D-O, or BB-8—though he was anything but helpless—and so she figured that a baby porg might be just the best medicine.

Really, though, Rose had no idea what she was doing, and as she neared her destination and slid the ship out of hyperspace, she could only hope that some burst of inspiration would strike before she found Rey. CB-23 got busy inputting the precise coordinates on the surface that BB-8 had transmitted once CB-23 had told him they were coming.

As the desert planet got closer and Rose scanned the low life-form readings, CB-23 started beeping apprehensively.

“Don’t worry, SeeBee,” Rose said, trying to stay focused on guiding the shuttle down when there were hardly any landmarks, just desert as far as the eye could see. “BB-8 will be thrilled to see you. I’m sure it will be a welcome surprise. After all, he must think very highly of you if he sent you that message.”

CB-23 whistled and beeped her hesitation.

“It’s okay. I’m nervous too,” said Rose. “But it will fine. It has to be fine,” she added under her breath. She steered the ship down to land on the sand alongside the ship she recognized as Rey’s, alongside a series of white domes that was some sort of dwelling, partially sunk into the sand.

Hearing the landing, BB-8 rolled up out of the house and was excitedly circling back and forth, coming closer to the ship and then away. When Rose opened the door, she could hear his excited beeps, and not much else. Unlike the Colossus, this planet was quiet. Very quiet. Just wind and the susurration of sand being blown in that wind. Strain her ears though she might, Rose could not hear any sounds of herd animals, or birds, or human settlements anywhere. 

“Why would she come here?” Rose wondered aloud, then had to step aside as CB-23 nearly knocked her over in her eagerness to get to BB-8. The two droids joyfully reunited, eagerly beeping at each other and bumping bodies in their excitement. 

“Rey?” she called out, heading towards the door where she had seen CB-23 emerge. “Are you in there?”

No, BB-8 said. She told me to wait. She said she wanted to be alone. She took the speeder to the north ridge.

Rose kneeled down in front of BB-8. “BeeBee, why did you send me that message?” she asked.

Rey is alone, the little white and orange ball droid mournfully whistled. She is always alone. She needs help. She won’t ask for help. 

“Okay,” said Rose, sighing. “I’m not sure what I can do, but I’ll try.”

It was hard to tell who was more excited to be reunited, BB-8 or CB-23. Rose went back in the shuttle and started moving the crates out. She got the porgs to go back in their crate for the time being. She wasn’t sure that Tatooine was all the hospitable a planet for birds that came from a lush, damp island in the middle of an ocean. 

Inside the house, she wasn’t sure where to put things, but BB-8 had no trouble ordering her around. Rose frowned when she saw the sparse shelves in the kitchen. Rey didn’t have very much food on hand. No wonder she looked a bit thinner than Rose remembered. Well, the shelves were stocked now, even if Rose didn’t think they could last more than a few weeks without replenishing the supplies. At least, it would be a few weeks as long as she could convince Rey to start eating properly again, and when had that girl ever turned down a good meal?

BB-8 showed Rose a bedroom that was empty, and dark and a little damp, if Rose was honest. She wrinkled her nose at the moldy bedclothes, and headed back onto the shuttle to see what she could dig up in terms of newer and more comfortable blankets. As she crossed the courtyard again, arms full of three tattered but serviceable, warm blankets, Rose noticed some strange scratches on one of the pillars. She stopped and looked closer.

They were little parallel lines. Fresh. Many of them.

Rose had a bad feeling that the hashes were marking time. “Oh Rey,” she whispered. “What have you done?”

The hours ticked by, and the two droids were off somewhere. Rose made herself a snack, and fed the porgs, who were staying inside their crate, in her bedroom. They were drinking water so thirstily that it made her revise her estimate of their water reserves. At this rate, maybe they only had a week’s supply of water. Possibly less, if the porgs didn’t adjust to the dry air.

Finally, she heard the unmistakable whine of a speeder. Rose bounded up to the surface, waving her arms in excitement as BB-8 came up along with her. 

“Rey!” she called out.

Only it wasn’t just Rey on the speeder. It was also a tall figure, wrapped up against the elements in rich dark green fabric, the color of the forests her eyes were missing. With their speeder goggles pulled over their eyes and the bulk of fabric wrapped around them, she couldn’t immediately tell if it was a medium-height man or a taller woman who was steering the speeder with one arm and holding Rey in their lap at the same time. 

“Who are you?” Rose demanded, running over, even before the speeder had completely stopped. “What did you do to Rey?”

BB-8 rolled, bumping against the stranger’s boot and hooting and beeping eagerly. 

The stranger just swung off the speeder, cradling Rey in both arms, and headed in to the house without saying a word, going right by Rose. Rey was unconscious, but after the first terrifying seconds, Rose saw her chest was still rising and falling with her breath. She was wearing the same white outfit that Rose saw her in during the last days of the war, but her bottom two buns had come loose and her hair had grown longer, laying past her shoulders now. What she couldn’t tell from the holo was how Rey had gotten so tan that her freckles had come out, and the darker glow on her skin gave her a healthy look at odds with her thinness.

“Who are you?” Rose demanded, chasing after them, but now she was more curious than scared. BB-8 clearly knew this person, whoever they were, and they had brought Rey back home.

“A friend,” replied a low, rich voice that sent a shiver through Rose. “Where should I put her?”

“Oh, um,” Rose stalled. She wasn’t sure which room was Rey’s. BB-8 had no such hesitation, though, and led the way to a doorway directly across the open air courtyard from Rose’s room. 

When the stranger returned moments later, having left Rey in her room, still sleeping—or passed out, or whatever it was—and strode over to Rose. Rose unintentionally backed up a few steps, and then the figure pulled off their goggles.

Blue eyes were staring at her, almost a teal blue, rimmed by eyelashes flecked with green at the end. Eyes the color of the sky on a jungle planet. Eyes that flicked up and down her and suddenly made her aware of every grain of sand that had coated her blood-red tunic, that had slipped its way down her neckline and, uncomfortably, pooled right at the tops of her breasts. 

Then they tugged off the dark green cloth covering the bottom half of their face and neck, and Rose found herself transfixed by a strong nose and a sardonic smile, on a man whose light skin had not gotten much exposure to the Tatooine climate.

He bent his head forward and removed the last of his head wrappings, and now Rose could see he had green hair, and his ears were also green at the tips. She found herself suddenly wanting to touch those green-tipped ears, and learn just how sensitive they were.

“Who are you?” he asked, in that deep voice that sounded of caves, and depths.

“Rose Tico, formerly of the Resistance. Rey’s friend.”

“Ah,” he said, looking a little impressed. “I was at the battle of Exegol.”

“A lot of people were, at the end,” said Rose, and it came out more tartly than she meant. “A lot of people we’d never seen before showed up at the last minute.”

The stranger raised his eyebrows but didn’t dispute it. He cleared his throat and tried to start again, gently. “What brings you here, Rey’s friend?”

“I got a message asking me to come here.”

“From Rey?” 

“No, from BeeBee-Ate.” She crossed her arms. “BeeBee made me think she was alone and needed help. I didn’t know about you.”

He chuckled, then sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t think I’m much help. BeeBee was right. It’s good that you came. I found her collapsed, again, in Ben’s old house.”

“Ben Solo?” gasped Rose. 

“No, Ben Kenobi,” he said, looking at her curiously. “The name Obi-Wan Kenobi used while he was in hiding after the Jedi fell. My dad knew him back when they were both Jedi in the Republic. Who’s Ben Solo?”

“Long story,” said Rose, waving him off. “Who are you, again? How do you know Rey?”

“Of course, I should have introduced myself,” he said, sticking out his hand. “I’m Jacen Syndulla. Pleased to meet you, Rose.”

She found his hand warm, and large, and grasping hers just a second longer than she expected. BB-8 then interrupted them. 

“Right, BeeBee, we should get her some water and make her drink,” Jacen agreed. “Erm, where’s the kitchen?”

Rose showed him over. “I take it you’ve never been inside here?”

“No, I really haven’t,” he said, stooping to enter the kitchen. Rose filled a tall glass with water while he talked. “I’ve only met Rey a handful of times. She’s very stubborn. She seems lonely, but she never invited me in here. I didn’t want to push.”

“How did you meet?” 

“At the spaceport. My droid got in a fight with BeeBee-Ate—”

“Your droid got in a fight? With BeeBee?” 

“Yes. Chopper packs quite a punch, but I think in BeeBee he met his match.” The little droid’s proud whistling confirmed his agreement. “So I went to get Chopper, but then I look over and there’s Rey there, whipping out her lightsaber to settle things, and looking like she wants to murder someone.”

Rose sighed. That sounded like Rey towards the end of the war, when training was going well. Or poorly. Even though she was relieved to hear that Rey could muster up some emotion besides pain and sadness, Rose thought that it didn’t bode well that the galaxy’s only fully-trained Force user was mired in so much hurt and anger she was ready to dismantle random droids.

“So she’s still using the Skywalker lightsaber, then,” Rose said aloud. She had wondered if that would continue.

“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Jacen. “She sure is going around calling herself Rey Skywalker.”

“What?” said Rose, looking up him with bewilderment. She was startled to discover that he was right behind her, and looming above her, taller than most men she’d met. Jacen backed up several steps quickly, as if in apology.

“She introduces herself that way,” he said. “People say there hasn’t been a Skywalker in these parts for a long time. Nobody knew Luke Skywalker had a daughter.”

“But she’s not. She’s not Luke’s daughter!” Rose started to laugh. “She wasn’t related to them at all. Unless Leia adopted her…but then she’d be an Organa…or maybe a Solo…”

“Well, I don’t know anything about who she’s related to, or not, or that weird Skywalker family tree,” said Jacen, throwing up his hands, “but I know a little bit about the Jedi. My dad was one of them.”

“Really?” said Rose. “I thought the Jedi weren’t supposed to have kids!”

“He and my mom got together after the Jedi Order fell,” said Jacen, waving a hand dismissively. “It was during the war. The first one, I mean.”

“Were they even really different wars?” Rose wondered aloud.

“Yes,” Jacen snapped. “Because otherwise, what did my dad die for? Why did my mom go on all those missions? The Rebels won and it was over.” He took a deep breath. “Anyhow, that’s not the point. I saw Rey and her lightsaber, and it was yellow. It’s not like the galaxy is overrun with Jedi anymore. And even when they were at their height, a yellow blade is really, really rare, or at least it was. That’s what my Mom always told me. So I tried to talk to Rey about it. Rey was polite, but not too interested in talking. I think she might have gotten the wrong idea.”

“Wrong idea?” Rose echoed.

“Aren’t you going to take her that water?” asked Jacen, gesturing to the glass she was still holding in her hand, utterly forgotten.

“Oh, right. But—what wrong idea?”

“That I was, you know, pursuing her. Romantically.”

“Oh.”

“But I wasn’t,” Jacen followed up, very fast. “I just wanted to know what someone else who was interested in the Jedi was doing on this planet.”

“So you’re interested in the Jedi?” Rose didn’t dare look at him as she left the kitchen. “Are you…Force sensitive?”

If she had gotten herself attracted to yet another Force sensitive boy who would soon decide he had better things to do than talk to her, Rose was going to find some non-essential extra part on her ship, rip it off with her bare hands, and snap it in two.

Jacen sighed as he followed Rose across the courtyard. “Yes. Maybe? I never went to study with Luke Skywalker when he set up the new praxeum. Mom at first didn’t want to send me away so young, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to train to be a Jedi knight anyway. Then when I was thinking about it, Luke and the other Jedi disappeared, and there wasn’t anywhere to go. Now, I figure I’m probably way too old to start training, even if there was a new academy.” He crossed his arms and gave Rose a warm smile, leaning against the pillars in the middle of the courtyard. “Being a pilot with a little extra Force sensitivity can’t hurt, right?”

“No, can’t hurt at all,” said Rose, half to herself, her eyes quickly skimming over his body, tall and built, clad all in green, like it was his favorite color. He looked like a mystery, with a mischevious smile. 

“Well, anyhow, I’ll be heading off now,” said Jacen, straightening up and turning to leave.

“Wait! Rey should thank you. Don’t go before she’s gotten up.”

Jacen laughed. “Rey doesn’t like to thank anyone. She doesn’t like to depend on anyone. I think she’s out of practice.” He tilted his head and studied her critically. “But you, Rose Tico…maybe you could teach her how to be around people again. How to have a friend again.” That warm, slightly sardonic smile spread across his face again. “I wouldn’t bet against you. Not if a droid trusted you to help his human.”

He loped off towards the doorway. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” he called over his shoulder. “With food for dinner. You’ll like it.” 

“Thank you,” said Rose.

“Happy to help!” he shouted back.

Rose’s last thought as she heard the speeder power up was to wonder why he had green hair and such deep, deep teal blue eyes, eyes like the sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so saying he's an "original character" isn't strictly true! Jacen Syndulla does appear in the last episode of Rebels, as a child. But since pretty much all we have of him in canon so far (to my knowledge!) is really his parents and the past of the Ghost crew, not anything about his appearance, personality, or life as an adult, I think it's fair to say that this version of Jacen Syndulla is all my own, though I did my best to drop in moments that should, hopefully, feel like one or the other of his parents.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Rey get to have a discussion, Rey reveals her own reaction and mental state after Exegol, and Rose offers her own perspective on the relationship between Jedi and technology. Rey names the third porg. 
> 
> A shorter chapter, but it's setting up a lot of important ideas for what comes next. Definitely I'm indebted to "World Between Worlds" posts on Tumbler, especially from @tcookies, for compiling evidence for theories on how that concept, from Rebels, could work here.

Rey’s reaction once she had drunk some water and recognized Rose made the whole journey worthwhile. “Rose!” she said, giving her a giant smile, dimples and all. She positively lit up. “What are you doing here? And…how did I get back here?”

Rose hugged her and gave her the glass to keep on drinking. “Jacen Syndulla brought you back,” said Rose. “He brought you back on his speeder. He said he found you unconscious in a house somewhere.”

“Obi-Wan Kenobi’s old homestead,” said Rey, thoughtfully. 

“Rey, what were you doing there all by yourself? You didn’t even take BeeBee-Ate with you!”

“I was fine!” Rey protested, wiping her dirty hands on her pants and smearing brown streaks all over them. “I spent my whole life scavenging on Jakku, remember? So I passed out. It happens. I would have come to, eventually. The desert gets cold at night. I would have eventually woken back up.”

Rose recognized the stubborn glint in her eyes. She’d seen that look before, in Paige’s eyes when she decided to stay with the Resistance and train instead of just getting on a ship and running off to bomb the First Order in retaliation for their destruction of Hays Minor, in Leia’s face when she argued for seeking out Palpatine’s hidden base on Exegol, in Poe’s face when he sent Rose and Finn off to find the Master Codebreaker on Canto Bight. 

Some days, Rose thought she saw that look in her own reflection. Maybe that was good. Maybe not.

“What were you doing in a dead Jedi’s old home, anyway? What was worth the risk, Rey?”

“I thought…maybe among his things…I’ve looked before but today I just had a feeling…maybe Obi-Wan had a secret compartment somewhere that I had overlooked the first time…Luke had secret compartments on Ahch-to and hid things…so I was looking…I guess I lost track of time.”

“Jacen called him something else,” said Rose, watching her face carefully. “Ben. Ben Kenobi.”

Rey’s face shuttered for a moment, her expression going carefully blank and her eyes dimming. “Yes,” she said.

“Was he somehow related to…”

Rey nodded. “Yes. Han and Leia named their son after him. He saved them and made it possible for them to get off the first Death Star with the intel that led to its destruction. For a lot of years here while Luke Skywalker was growing up, Kenobi was living on Tatooine, watching out for him. He went by Ben Kenobi almost for as many years as he went by Obi-Wan. That’s why I thought…maybe…I just had a feeling. I needed to follow it.” She reached out her hand for the glass again and gulped down more water.

“What are you trying to do, Rey?” Rose tried to ask it gently. 

Rey put down the empty glass and wouldn’t meet Rose’s eyes. “I can’t tell you.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, it’s Force things. It barely makes sense to me. I can’t explain it. There’s something out there…I’m afraid. I’m afraid I’m right, or that I’ve gone mad. I’m even more afraid I’m wrong. I’m looking for clues, answers, and I may be putting them together all wrong. I could just be deluding myself.” Rey sighed. “But I can’t stop. I can’t stop. I’m alone, I don’t know what I’m doing, and Leia is gone…Luke…Han…”

“And Ben,” Rose finished softly. 

Rey nodded, overcome. She didn’t even cry, and that almost hurt Rose worse.

Rose still struggled, mightily, to reconcile the soft, sad expression on Rey’s face with the fearsome Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order. Leia’s willingness to expend the last of her life force to reach Ben Solo, Han’s sacrifice, Luke’s projection, all seemed part of another person, another story that never quite fit with the galaxy-consuming war they were fighting. The family saga had now sucked Rey into it. 

Rose repressed a little pang of jealousy that her entire family—grandmother, mother, father, sister, the people of Hays Minor—could all be wiped away and nobody noticed. But this one family of the Skywalkers had such an outsized influence on countless worlds, from the Core to the Outer Rim. 

Apparently if Rey was taking their name, she was part of that tangled, horrifying Skywalker history too. By choice.

But yelling at Rey for the unfairness of a conflict that had started generations before them wasn’t what she was here to do. Rose put away her frustration, sliding it into a drawer in her mind and closing it shut. That was for another time. Rey was staring straight ahead again, the blank expression back. Right now, she was in far worse shape than Rose, and given what Rey had sacrificed—much of her own life essence, indeed almost her entire life—to win them this peace that allowed Rose and others to rebuild, she needed to give the Jedi the benefit of the doubt.

“I’m still there, Rose,” Rey said, her voice breaking as she spoke quietly. “I close my eyes and I’m still there. The whole fleet…they’re all being destroyed…the lightning…Palpatine told me the only way to stop it would be to take my position as Sith Empress…it didn’t make any sense. I don’t know why we fought the war, why any of it happened.” 

Rose swallowed a lump in her throat. “I wonder that too. But maybe it doesn’t matter why the war happened. When the time came, we made the right choice. We saved the galaxy. We saved the people we loved.”

“Except I didn’t,” Rey wailed. “I got him killed. He died for me!” She jerked back from Rose and gripped the bedclothes so tightly Rose was afraid she’d rip the blanket to shreds. Rey took long, jagged breaths, trying to calm down. She closed her eyes, and seemed to be trying to meditate.

Finally she opened her eyes again, and they were wet with tears, but she was calmer. “I don’t know how Ben even found me on Exegol—I stole his ship! I don’t know why Ben saved me. He…I stabbed him. In anger. On the Death Star. He was going to die. Then he did die…he never even said anything to me…I never even got to tell him…to tell him…” 

Rey started to hyperventilate. Rose grabbed the last of the cold water and dumped it on her head, short-circuiting her panic. 

“Oh! Thank you.” Rey got her breathing under control again. “We…we had a Force bond. We could feel each other’s emotions, see each others’ visions, go to each other’s surroundings. Do you…do you think he really knew how I felt? Even if I couldn’t put it in words.”

“Of course,” soothed Rose, taking the blanket and patting Rey dry.

“We’re, we’re a dyad. In the Force. We’re literally one soul in two bodies. Paired, linked, forever. I had only just found out. He found out. He told me. The things we could do together…what we were able to…we never really figured it all out. He changed…when he came to me he was Ben Solo, he was who I saw in my vision. We touched hands and there was nothing like it…there was no one else who really knew me. There can be nobody else. Do you have any idea what it’s like to have half of you ripped away? To live with that? No longer having the only other person in the universe who knows you?”

Rose’s fingers instinctively went up to her necklace. “I think I do,” she whispered.

Rey’s eyes drifted to the necklace and they sat in silence for several long minutes. 

“There’s a map,” Rey whispered, finally. “I’ve been reading in the Jedi texts about this other place, this vergence in the Force that’s connected to Exegol.”

“What’s a vergence in the Force?”

“I’m not sure. But there are some planets identified as having these connections that span time and space. It’s part of this theorem.” Rey took a deep breath, and grabbed a book from underneath her pillow, and flipped it open to a well-worn page.

“I can’t read any of the writing.”

“It talks about connections in the Force, places that bridge space and time. There’s a…an in-between space, apparently, that connects certain locations in the galaxy to each other. I think this here is a star map created by the ancient Jedi.”

“Or a series of circles and lines,” said Rose, not unkindly.

“It reminds me of how the map that BeeBee-Ate brought to me looked, if it had been down on paper and not a projection,” said Rey. “I wish I knew how to turn this into a projection. Or some kind of navigational coordinates.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” sighed Rey, shaking her head in evident frustration. “But I have this pull, this feeling, that’s what I need to do. I don’t feel like it’s over, what happened at Exegol. I need to explore whatever this vergence is, whatever these connections are. It wasn’t coincidence that the Emperor came back on Exegol. I need to understand what happened, and what my role in all this is. I need to know who my family was, my parents. And I need to know what happened to Ben. For some reason all these things are connected, but I don’t know how, yet.”

“Well,” said Rose awkwardly, standing up, “it sounds like you have a lot of questions you can answer with Jacen’s help.”

“Jacen?” Rey snorted. “I barely know him.”

“But he knows about Force stuff?”

“That’s not really what I need.”

“What do you need?”

“Another kind of wayfinder, I think? If we needed something to get us to Exegol, it would stand to reason that to get into this vergence, this in-between place, and explore it, we’ll need something like that again. But I don’t even know how the first one worked. Ben already had it rigged up to his shuttle. I never had to figure out how to connect it to a navicomputer or activate it.”

“What happened to it?”

“I smashed it on Exegol,” Rey said, and she looked ashamed of herself. “I was so upset…I didn’t know what to do…and Ben smashed the other one…I just wanted to get rid of everything that had to do with the Sith. I wanted to kill the past, forever. But now I want to get to that in-between place, that vergence. Maybe then I can find the answers for why Palpatine came back and why we fought this war. I want to understand. I need to understand.”

“Okay, you need to create a kind of navigational chart,” said Rose slowly, “and maybe also some sort of tool that can interface with a navicomputer…that might be possible. Do you have any sort of Jedi tech anywhere?”

Rey stared at her blankly. “What’s Jedi tech?”

“I don’t know, whatever powers your lightsabers?”

“That’s a kyber crystal. It’s not exactly tech. It’s like a living thing. It responds to you. Bonds to you.”

“Okay, so maybe Jedi tech is weird,” said Rose, waving her hand. “Maybe it’s part alive. I can work with that. Do you have one of those crystals?”

“If I got out the Skywalker sabers and broke them open,” said Rey. “But I’m not sure I want to do that.”

“Maybe there’s a way to get the kyber crystal to help us without breaking anything. Or maybe we need something else altogether.”

Rey sat and thought about it a while. “That could work,” she said slowly, stifling a yawn. “I’ll get them tomorrow.” 

“You’re tired,” Rose observed. “How about you rest now, and I’ll figure out dinner?” 

Rey nodded, and curled up on her side among the blankets, closing her eyes. 

“Oh, I almost forgot!” said Rose. She hurried off and came back with one of the baby porgs in her hands. Rey sat up with surprise and a ghost of a smile on her face. 

“Meet your new friend,” said Rose. “My friends gave me a porg family, and this one you can name yourself.”

Rey’s smile wavered and tears filled her eyes as she stroked the feathers affectionately. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“I think it’s a girl? I named the mother Tran and the other girl Ackie.”

Rey fluffed up the feathers a bit, tracing the black splotch that looked a bit like a heart symbol. “Maybe Leia?” she suggested hesitantly. She tilted her head then. “Or perhaps not.” She grinned slightly. “I can’t imagine a general and a princess giving her name to a porg.”

Rose laughed. “Me neither!”

Rey’s eyes suddenly lit up. “I found a name here, one of the people who used to live here. Shmi. I think the name suits this porg.” 

The little bird made a noise somewhere between a coo and a purr, rubbing its head against Rey’s hand. “Shmi it is,” said Rose. 

“Thank you, Rose,” said Rey, curling up on her side and starting to drift off. “Thank you…” Her eyes closed as she cuddled up with the porg, and Shmi seemed to be enjoying the contact. “It’s…nice…to have someone…come back…and want to really help me.”

Rose noted Rey’s smile, unconscious and soft, as she breathed deeply and Shmi cooed along, snuggling up against her new friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Rose enjoy mechanic time, and have an eventful dinner with Jacen and make plans to leave Tatooine. Rose is clearly distracted by her growing attraction, but she's not sure Jacen understands what the war has cost her. Rose visits the Ghost for the first time and settles in for the journey, but Jacen's old astromech droid is not taking too kindly to the new company.

The next day, Rey was up and smiling, acting as if nothing had happened the day before. Rose knew enough not to take that cheerfulness seriously. Unlike Finn and Poe, she had figured out long ago that Rey wore her eagerness like Chewie wore his bandolier, showing her outer toughness to conceal all the softness inside.

They worked on Rey’s shuttle, repairing some parts that had gotten banged up on the way to Tatooine. By now Rose knew better than to ask how it had happened. She just focused on helping Rey reroute power couplings, swap out an old compressor for a new one that Rey had picked up in Tosche Station, and try to fix the wiring that had been botched previously by someone—probably Poe, he was always messing around with wiring on ships in his spare time that he wasn’t using to tell someone they should be doing things differently, Rose thought wryly.

Settling into a familiar rhythm, she and Rey worked seamlessly, passing tools back and forth. They barely needed to speak to know what each other needed. “Spanner—yes—no, the smaller—thank you. D’you have the—great—ooh, nice.” At one point, Tran and Shmi poked their heads in, and Shmi flew over to sit in Rey’s hood while she worked. Rose found herself humming the theme music to Nerfherder and the Princess without realizing it. Rey listened and then started to harmonize. 

“I never knew you could sing,” said Rose, surprised.

Rey laughed. “Hidden talent? I guess I didn’t have much need to show it off at the base. Nobody wins a war by singing.”

“Well, the First Order is beaten,” Rose said staunchly. “You don’t have to fight anyone. You can sing now.”

She caught a smile on Rey’s face. Rose turned back to the exposed panel, where she shooed out Tran, who was trying to pull loose some of the insulation.

At one point, as the twin suns were starting to angle low in the sky, Rose even felt a gentle tap on her left shoulder. She turned and was surprised to see the bolt she needed nudging her there, floating mid-air. Glancing over at Rey, Rose could see she was deep in concentration, apparently not noticing that several small parts had begun hovering, rising around her.

“Be with me,” Rey chanted in a whisper, as she wrapped tape around an exposed wire. “Be with me. Be with me. Be with me. Please. Be with me.”

Then Rey’s Force trance, and the floating nuts and bolts and tools, and Rose’s own quiet awe at the young Jedi, were all broken by a “Hello there!” called out.

“Ow!” said Rey, as one of the spanners dropped directly on her hand, and the other pieces dropped straight down as well. 

Rose scrambled outside. “Hi Jacen,” she said, holding up her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. He was getting off his speeder, this time with a large bag at his side, its strap slung across his wide shoulders. Today he was dressed all in a slate blue, with gray pants.

Rose looked down at her own charcoal leggings, feeling very self-conscious of the slight horizontal tear above the knee and the several grease stains she’d acquired today—kriff, she needed to launder these—while Jacen looked flawless, even as he had been the one who had ridden who knows how far on a speeder across the desert.

“Can I help you carry anything?” asked Rose.

“No, no, I’ve got it all,” said Jacen, starting for the doorway. “Dinner should be ready in about an hour.”

“What if I helped?” Rose blurted out, surprising herself. “Would that speed things along?”

A long pause, while Jacen busied himself shifting packages in his arms and Rose felt increasingly foolish. “Thank you,” he said. 

“So, do you want me to help?” asked Rose, cocking her head to the side. “Food cooking is one of my…I mean, cooking food. I can do that.”

She could feel herself starting to blush, and was saved only by Rey scampering down the ramp, porgs in tow, and interrupting them. The next thing Rose knew, they were all three squashed into the little Lars homestead kitchen—since one of the few things Rey had told Rose about this place was that, confusingly, it wasn’t technically the Skywalker home—and Jacen had her chopping roots while he stripped the meat off the cooked carcass of some bird, which Rey was trying to prevent the porgs from seeing. Jacen had the bright idea to put on some music while they finished the stew. 

“It’s a local band,” he explained, as the jazzy melody filled the room and bounced off the plaster walls. “They were really popular a couple decades back.”

“Sounds like music you could dance to,” said Rose, bopping her head along with the beat. 

Jacen flashed her a grin and turned back to the stew. Shmi, still tucked into Rey’s hood that hung off the back of her neck, started bobbing her head, as if she were moving to the beat, but Tran and Ackie just kept trying to eat the herbs that Rey was shredding. 

Rey, of course, kept sneaking the porgs little bites when she thought Rose was looking. She had the table manners of a girl who’d raised herself in the middle of nowhere, and the aversion to seeing other beings going hungry that came from that hard life, too. Rose had noticed her hoarding food, and sharing it with others, so often in the year they fought alongside each other.

Rose nearly moaned in happiness when she finally tasted the stew and Rey, never one for subtlety, did moan, and then kept diving in, apparently oblivious to how sensual she sounded. Rose caught Jacen’s eyes and then looked away, blushing, and feeling ridiculous. She wasn’t the one who moaned.

“This stew is amazing,” gushed Rey. “I didn’t know you could cook like this! Why didn’t you ever say so?”

Jacen shrugged. “I’m a man of many talents,” he said wryly. 

“I love it,” Rose told him, and he grinned back at her.

The three companions dined in contented silence, with just the music in the background, which had now switched to a slower, but still melodic tune. Rose picked it up and started humming along while Rey and Jacen talked about the local politics. Apparently Rey had taken it upon herself to settle some old scores with some First Order troopers who had been hanging around Mos Eisley, and while she’d driven them out, now Jacen was saying that problems had only increased with the Hutt cartels. Rose drifted out of the conversation, focusing on the delicious, savory broth and trying not to look at the porgs every time she chewed a tender morsel of poultry. 

Rose kept sneaking glances at Jacen. She felt strangely drawn to him. Rose guessed he was in his early to mid-thirties—who had such unusual green hair and those unforgettable blue eyes, which had slight crinkles around the corners, the only sign betraying that he was older than her twenty-four years. Rose could tell you exactly where he sat in relation to her around the table, just how far she’d have to extend her right arm to touch his shoulder. Jacen radiated a strange calm. Not an eerie calm, but a self-contained one. He didn’t give her the same feeling as Rey, though, or like Finn once he’d discovered his Force sensitivity and that became all he could talk or think about. No, Jacen felt less closed-off, less confusing. He seemed much more like an ordinary person, not particularly impressed with himself, and extremely helpful, even friendly, if a little mysterious—

“Rose,” Rey said, in a way that made it clear she’d been saying it several times now. “Rose, what do you think?”

“Yes,” said Rose. “I mean, I agree with you.” She stroked Ackie’s feathers and pushed her empty stew bowl away. 

“Okay,” said Jacen. “It’s settled then. You and Rose will sell your shuttles in Anchorhead and come with me on the Ghost.”

“Rey’s leaving Tatooine?” exclaimed Rose, realizing she’d missed a lot. Then—“You want to sell my ship too? But I just got it!”

“My whole family used to live on the Ghost. It has a lot more room on it than either of your shuttles, and it doesn’t make sense for us all to fly separately.”

“Jacen’s right,” said Rey, grudgingly. “But Rose,” she said, extending her right hand and grabbing Rose’s left, “if you don’t want to sell your ship, you don’t have to.”

“No, it makes sense,” Rose admitted. “There’s nothing special about that ship, and if I leave it on Tatooine, it may not be in good shape by the time I get back.”

“The Jawas will have raided it for parts,” Rey agreed with a smile.

“You don’t have to come with us,” Jacen said. “I know you didn’t exactly sign up for this Jedi stuff. I mean, it’s generous of you to offer, but you could go back home if you wanted.”

“What home?” Rose asked, and she could hear how harsh she sounded, but she didn’t care. “My family is all dead, and I come from a dead planet. The First Order made it unlivable. Where would I go? Back to a fueling station that doesn’t need me? No. Rey needs me. I’m staying with her. Some of us came out of the war with almost nothing. We have to stick together.”

Jacen absorbed this information. To her relief, he didn’t respond out of pity.

“I’m not trying to send you away,” he said slowly. “I’m just trying to figure out how we’re all going to contribute to this team.” He held up his hands. “And I say that as someone who isn’t sure what more he has to offer besides his ship. I know some Jedi lore, and stories my mom and Uncle Ezra told me. But seeing as how I’m looking for my own family members who got lost during the war, and I can’t find them, I may not be a lot of help at figuring out this map and getting into this in-between world.”

Rose absorbed this new information and wondered who he’d lost, and how.

“It’s going to be dangerous,” Rey said quietly, running her fingers through Shmi’s feathers as if to comfort herself as much as the porg, who was cooing in contentment. “And it’s going to be strange. That’s all any of us know. We will put the pieces together until we know the full picture. Otherwise—” she looked up at both of them with terror and uncertainty in her eyes. “Otherwise I don’t know how to keep this all from happening again. And I know I have to pass on what I have learned, but until I know the truth, I can’t be responsible for training any new Jedi. Even you, Jacen.”

“I told you, I don’t need to become a Jedi,” said Jacen, putting his hands up. “I’m happy to be a pilot.”

For some reason, that made Rey’s eyes water even more.

“Well, you need me,” Rose said, unsure where this new burst of confidence came from, as she straightened up in her seat. She was addressing Rey as much as Jacen. “I was the best mechanic the Resistance had for figuring out tracking tech and stealth tech. If you want to try to track down planets with weird Force stuff, and navigate an area without star charts or hyperlanes, you need my help figuring that out.”

“True,” Rey admitted. A smile bloomed across her face. “I was hoping you would say that.”

“So, where are we going?”

“Jakku,” said Rey at the same time that Jacen said, “Coruscant.”

“Coruscant,” said Jacen. “If we want to understand that map, we need to go back to the Jedi archives.”

“We’re going back to Jakku,” said Rey, jutting her chin out stubbornly. “That’s where my parents left me. I’m stronger now. I might be able to get something out of Unkar Plutt or someone else. They must have left me there for a good reason. I think Jakku is tied up in everything that happened. It has some significance to Palpatine and his plan, and what came out of the Unknown Regions.”

“There’s more information on Coruscant,” Jacen argued. “Coruscant had records of the old Jedi, and the Temple is still there.”

“That was destroyed before you or I were even born,” Rey snapped.

“Nobody’s gone looking in the ruins for ages. We have no idea what’s there, and I don’t think Force-sensitives have tried to search it,” said Jacen reasonably. “Plus, somewhere on Coruscant, there have to be records somewhere of what Palpatine was doing while he was Emperor. Maybe we can use them to reconstruct things. Don’t you want to know more about your grandmother?”

“No,” Rey spat out, shuddering. “I don’t want anything to do with her. I only care about learning who my parents were.”

“Maybe you have to start further back than Jakku to learn about them,” Rose suggested diplomatically. “Coruscant could be a good start.”

She had spent all of two standard rotations on Tatooine and already hated desert planets.

Rey shrugged, and reached out to scoop up Shmi, who immediately curled up in her hands, cooing sleepily. “I don’t know who I am anymore,” she said. “It was easier when I was nobody on Jakku. Just Rey.” She laughed. “At one point I convinced myself I’d picked my own name, you know? I had a fighter pilot helmet from the Rebellion. Raeh. I liked the name. But now I know I can barely trust my own memories.” She jutted her chin out. “Maybe on Jakku I can remember more. And I do think there has to be clues there, to help us decode this map.”

Rose suddenly realized why Rey would be so invested in calling herself a Skywalker. They were the only family she really knew much about. The whole galaxy knew them. There were few mysteries left. Something about being part of that bloodline, a known quantity—even one so tainted and tragic as the Skywalkers—would have felt like real stability for a young woman whose past was as unsteady as the shifting sand dunes on Tatooine.

“I think we should go to Jakku,” said Rose. “If Rey thinks that’s the next step, maybe there we can get information that will help us on Coruscant.”

“Thank you,” said Rey, smiling at her gratefully. Nestled in Rey’s cupped hands, Shmi trilled happily, as if to agree. 

Jacen looked back and forth between them. “Okay, Jakku it is,” he said at last. “I think the hyperspace lanes are more direct there anyway.”

Rose had studied enough star charts to know that wasn’t true, but she didn’t argue with him. “Back to Jakku,” she said.

“There’s nothing left for me here on Tatooine,” Rey said, staring down at Shmi. “I’m starting to think there never was.”

Rose wasn’t sure, then, why they were going to Jakku, but more to the point, maybe Rey didn’t know either. 

\-----  
The next morning, Rose borrowed a faded tan swath of fabric she found from a trunk in one of the rooms to cover her head. Her painstaking braid that coiled around her head had become messy, and she couldn’t redo it perfectly without Torra’s help. Rey was useless at hair—she only seemed to really know two hairstyles, half-up and three buns—so Rose just left her hair long and loosely covered it with the fabric, pinning it into a makeshift cowl. She also changed into a different pair of leggings, a pale cream, hoping they might not look dirty quite so fast, or feel as hot, as her prior pants. 

Rey was outside already, kneeling in the sand in a way that told Rey she had been there a long time. Her head was bowed before a set of graves in the sand. Rose busied herself packing back up her crates of food supplies, extra parts, and porgs-with-nest, though they seemed to have outgrown the nest and contented themselves with just attaching themselves to the nearest human, or in Ackie’s case, hitching a ride on CB-23’s flat top, which CB didn’t seem to mind too much. She was engrossed in having long conversations in binary with BB-8. Rose was willing to bet that they had, at some point, joined power couplings or data inputs or whatever droids did.

If Rey wasn’t so clearly struggling, Rose would have thought maybe BB-8 had sent the message just as an excuse to see his favorite counterpart again. 

Finally, Rey got up and went back into the homestead to use the fresher one last time and make a sweep to be sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Rose went over to the graves to see if she could make out the names. 

“Ah, that’s where she got ‘Shmi’ from,” Rose whispered to herself as she rubbed away a thin layer of sand. 

She still wasn’t sure exactly who “Shmi” was, or what any of the other names meant either, but at least now she knew how Rey had learned it was the Lars homestead.

The ride into Anchorhead went smoothly, and Jacen met them by the south gate, just as he had promised. They loaded their cargo onto the Ghost, which was just as roomy as Jacen had promised. 

“You can pick your own rooms,” said Jacen, leading them out of the cargo bay. “I have the one down the far end, but the rest are all empty. It’s just me and Chopper on the Ghost these days.”  
“Wow, this ship is great!” Rose enthused, running up front to check out the controls. “You have some serious firepower here!”

“360-degree dorsal laser cannon turret, two forward laser cannons, and two rear laser cannons,” Jacen rattled off proudly. “Got its name from stealth tech and the ability to mask its signature so well it could slip past Imperial blockades.”

“Oooh,” Rose breathed, studying one of the readouts related to that masking ability. “I have to take this apart at some point and figure out how it does it.”

“Sure, next time we’re grounded without needing anywhere to go for a while. Also has a hyperdrive fuel capacity beyond average for a shuttle this size—my Mom figured out how to make room for extra coaxium and burn it more efficiently—and a pretty nice kick in the acceleration. Handles great. There’s also a secondary shuttle on top, the Phantom. It’s another fully-armed starfighter.” 

He ran his hand affectionately across the pilot’s chair, worn as it was. “I still can’t believe Mom let me have it to myself. Although it’s only a loan! I have to bring it back to Ryloth when I’m done.” 

An impossibly outdated astromech—older and creakier than R2-D2 by far—sped into the cockpit, waving two little yellow mechanical arms around and hollering in droid fashion so fast Rose couldn’t make it out, just Jacen’s rapid-fire responses as the two talked nearly simultaneously.

“Yes, I know,” sighed Jacen. “I have to bring the Ghost back in one piece. And if it’s scratched up at all, it’s my fault. Not yours. Right, I was there when Mom said all that. Yes, I know there’s two new droids aboard…well, those are called porgs…no, you may not electrocute anyone! No, you don’t get to push them out of the airlock! They’re friends, Chopper! You know what friends are…okay, so they’re my friends even if they’re not yours…hey, what do you mean you outrank me? Seniority doesn’t count! CHOPPER! Mom left me the ship! I’m the captain! Well, I’m her son! No, being repaired by her doesn’t make you her son, it’s not the same thing—”

Rose left Jacen arguing with the droid—she sensed it could be a while before Jacen reeled in the grumpy astromech’s murderous and mutinous tendencies, given how its orange top was spinning back and forth to express indignation. She headed back where Rey was fastening her quarterstaff on her back, preparing to leave. 

“You can pick your room,” said Rey. “I don’t care where I sleep. I’m going to sell the shuttles.”

“Shouldn’t I go?” asked Rose.

“No,” said Rey. “I’ll get a better price for them. Trust me.”

Rose let her go. She was hoping that Rey wouldn’t lop off someone’s arm or hand for not giving her a satisfactory price, but something told her to let the Jedi be. 

While Jacen and Chopper continued to fight in the cockpit, Rose opened the doors to the various rooms and soon settled on the one she wanted. They all had some artwork spray-painted on the walls, but her room had the most, and in the absence of any windows, she wanted all the light and cheerfulness she could get. The bright orange firebird—a Rebellion symbol—had faded with time, but the more impressionistic piece on the opposite wall, a very abstracted representation of General Organa as she’d looked during her years leading the Resistance, looked fresh. It was an image of her wearing the navy blue dress that Rose had seen her wearing now and again when their base was on D’Qar. To have a whole room to herself felt like luxury, especially after her far more cramped quarters on the Colossus, and something about having Leia Organa smile down on her bunk made Rose feel even more safe, and wanted, somehow.

Well, a room to herself and the porgs, since Tran and Ackie wanted to stay with her, and already started flying the material from their old nest into one of the drawers underneath the bottom bunk

“I see you found Auntie Sabine’s room,” said Jacen, leaning in the doorway with that smile again. 

“Oh?” said Rose. “Did you convince Chopper not to shove us all the airlock?”

“Temporarily,” said Jacen. “He threatened to turn off life support if the porgs damaged the ship in any way. I think BeeBee and SeeBee are hiding somewhere right now. Probably a good idea. If they get in his way he might knock their heads off and power them down.”

“He has…a personality,” said Rose, and Jacen burst out laughing.

“That’s true!” Jacen came into the room and sat down on the bed next to her. “I don’t think anything less than a full personality matrix reset would change it at this point, and he’s too much a part of my family to do anything to him. Chopper goes way back. He and my mom teamed up during the Clone Wars, when she was a little kid. He’s been flying with her ever since she left Ryloth, and he was extremely active during the Rebellion. I think he even tries to take credit for helping to deliver me when I was born…but Auntie Sabine says that story’s just an exaggeration.”

“I can see you’re very loyal to him,” said Rose.

“Of course!” said Jacen. “At the battle of Exelon, when we—well. Not important.”

“No, it’s okay. You can say.”

“Well, you were right what you said, you know. A lot of us weren’t on the front lines for most of the fighting.” Jacen pushed his hand through his hair, shrugging and staring at the floor. “Some of us took too long to understand what we were up against, and then we didn’t all do enough. I told myself what I was doing, smuggling supplies and passing messages, that was sufficient, but who was I kidding? We weren’t the ones in the most danger. People like you and Rey are the real heroes.”

“Don’t say that,” Rose begged him. “There’s more than enough heroism to go around. Besides,” she added, a catch in her throat, “the real heroes are all dead.”

Jacen said nothing. He just looked into her eyes, silent, and she got snared in the blue depths of his eyes. For the first time, in a very long time, Rose felt completely seen. Like someone was really taking the time to look at her, specifically. 

Her hand had landed on his bare arm. He had taken off the massive layers of fabric he’d worn the day before, and on the Ghost, in his natural element, Jacen just wore a light blue flight suit, with the sleeves rolled up, exposing muscles he must have worked to define, because you didn’t get arms like that just with flying.

Chopper chose that moment to burst into the room, hollering, and Jacen sprang up, lunging forward automatically to avoid hitting his head on the bottom of the top bunk, in a way that suggested long familiarity with this furniture setup.

“What do you mean the coolant line for the Phantom started leaking?” Jacen demanded, sprinting down the hallway to the access hatch for their little secondary shuttle.

Rose looked down at Tran and Ackie, cheerfully oblivious, and shrugged, then started unpacking her meager belongings into the other drawer. She hoped they would be content to share a drawer; if Ackie started demanding her own space, separate from her mother, she’d run out of drawers soon. But it was nice having roommates again, even of an avian sort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I think in TROS Rey might actually have the Falcon, but for the purposes of this story, she has a small shuttle. I can't really deal with both the Falcon and the Ghost in one fic, so for our purposes, I'm going to assume the Falcon went back with Lando, because Chewie can't handle the memories right now of flying on it with Han. 
> 
> Also, yes, the band they're listening to is Figrin Dan and the Modal Nodes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey, Rose, and Jacen travel to Jakku, and on the way, Rose and Jacen get to know each other better. Significantly better. Rose learns much more about his quest to find his family, and what's motivating him to join Rey on her wild goose chase to find this world between worlds. Something strange happens again with Rey that makes Rose wonder what's really going on here.

Rey returned an hour later with more credits than Rose expected. When she heard the price that her shuttle had fetched, Rose suspected that Rey was using Force persuasion. She felt uneasy, even as she rationalized to herself that could always donate the extra money, what was beyond the shuttle’s real worth, to the fund for war orphans that Maz had set up.

Rose wasn’t sure when Rey had started using the Force to cheat merchants on out-of-the-way planets like Tatooine, though. It was another sign that something wasn’t quite right, but because she didn’t know how to explain it, Rose just frowned and stayed quiet. She could hardly confide in Jacen. She barely knew him.

Rey punched in the coordinates for Jakku from memory, but she declined the co-pilot’s seat. “I’ll meditate in my bunk,” she said. 

“Fine,” replied Jacen. “Chopper and I can take it from here.”

“In that case…I’ll clear out too,” said Rose, backing away. When nobody stopped her, she turned her back on Jacen running the pre-flight check and went up to the gun turret. Strapped in there, she watched them take off—goodbye Tatooine, I barely saw you—and saw the stars blur into the lines of hyperspace.

“Are you comfortable up there?” asked Jacen, about ten minutes in. He stood at the foot of the ladder.

“I always used to sit with my sister in the gun turrets during hyperspace,” said Rose. “We were in Cobalt Squadron. Whenever we were going on a bombing run, I would want to spend as much time with her as possible before I couldn’t anymore, before I had to leave the bombers and stay behind.” 

She tilted her head back and looked out at the streaking blue lines of hyperspace, running her fingers over the carvings on her necklace. “Watching hyperspace like this…I feel closer to her.”

“Is that necklace a gift from her?” asked Jacen, pointing to her curved Haysian smelt necklace.

“We each had half,” Rose choked. “Paige was wearing hers when she saved us all. She died. During the evacuation of D’Qar. She was on the bomber run on the dreadnought.”

There was a long silence while Rose pressed her lips together and tried to stop the tears from falling.

“It’s been a year and a half,” said Rose softly. “Sometimes I look down a corridor and I almost think I’m going to see here there, coming around the corner. Other times it seems like I’ve always been like this, like half a person, with half a necklace.”

Now the tears were falling, in earnest. Rose tried not to sniffle as she scrubbed her face with her sleeve.

“Do you want some hot cocoa?” Jacen asked.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a drink. It’s delicious. Sweet. Rich. Hot. Creamy. There were some farmers on Yavin 4 who grew the beans it comes from and they taught me how to make it. My mom says it’s the best thing after meiloorun juice. C’mon, I’ll make you a cup. You’ll like it.”

Rose could see how eager he was to please her. And it was cold up in the gun turret, without Paige to nestle against. Paige would have been the first one to push her down that ladder towards the man with the calm, deep eyes who wanted to make her “hot cocoa,” whatever that was.

To Rose’s surprise, once Jacen had finished heating it up in the tiny kitchenette in the Ghost common room, “hot cocoa” wasn’t at all spicy, just physically warm through her mug. 

Jacen blew on his cup of cocoa and Rose followed suit, putting it down and waiting for it to cool.

After it had cooled and they were both slowly sipping the cocoa, which was delicious and all the things that Jacen had promised her, he returned to their earlier conversation, his hands cradling his mug as he looked at her far too gently.

“I have a younger sister,” he said, softly. “Nessa. If anything happened to her, I couldn’t bear it.”

“Paige was my older sister,” said Rose, blinking back tears. “She always looked out for me.”

“Older siblings always want to protect the younger,” Jacen said.

They sipped their cocoa in silence.

“My father died during the war,” Jacen said quietly, so low Rose had to lean towards him to hear him. “The last war, I mean. The Rebellion against the Empire. I was born after he was gone. My earliest memories were of how my Mom mourned. She was very practical. She just kept moving. She found ways to make herself useful, to give her life purpose and meaning. That’s what I’ve been doing. It looks like maybe you’re doing that too.”

“The last war,” sighed Rose. “I feel like maybe we’re still fighting the same battles, if we’re still looking for Force stuff. That’s all I can think.”

Jacen shrugged. “There’s a lot of unfinished business left over,” he said. 

“What’s in this for you?” Rose asked. “So you’re Force sensitive, but you don’t want to be a Jedi. Why are you going on a wild chase to look for this in-between world, this theoretical realm? Or to find out about Rey’s parents?”

“Because I think there might be answers to my questions out there. Ones that have to do with the Jedi, and the Sith. And nobody’s going to get those answers but me.”

“Questions about your father?” 

“My dad?” Jacen laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, no. Not about him. I know that whole story, and he died saving my mom and my family, and that made it possible for Mom to accept it and move on, eventually. No questions there. But I do have questions about what happened to Uncle Ezra and Auntie Sabine.”

“Who are they?”

Jacen stretched his arms along the top of the bench back, relaxing. Rose could feel the heat of his arm slung casually just centimeters from the back of her neck.

“It’s a long story. My Dad had a padawan. Unofficially, of course. This was during the Rebellion, almost two decades after the Jedi Order fell. His name was Ezra. He lived with my parents and the rest of their crew here on the Ghost and helped the Rebellion. He was already a teenager when they found him, and he grew up fast. But after my Dad died, Ezra Bridger sacrificed himself to save everyone in the Rebel cell on Lothal—this was not too long before the first Death Star was blown up. Then after the war was over, my Auntie Sabine went with Ahsoka—she was another Jedi, sort of—and they looked for Ezra. He was the lost Jedi.”

“Did they find him?”

“Yes. Auntie Sabine brought him back, eventually. But Uncle Ezra didn’t want to be a Jedi anymore. He just wanted to live a quiet life back on Lothal. So he did. He had a family. He had a good life. Then about five or six years ago—around the time Leia Organa was revealed to be Darth Vader’s daughter, and let me tell you, that was a real shock to everyone—”

“She wasn’t!” Rose interrupted. “She was Anakin Skywalker’s daughter.”

Jacen pulled away and took a long sip of his hot cocoa before replying, “They were the same person.”

“Not exactly,” Rose argued. “I mean, they were, but General Organa hated Darth Vader even more than any of us, and he was a good man, a Jedi hero—”

“Okay, okay,” said Jacen, putting up his hands. “My point is just that my Dad came face to face with Darth Vader, and I grew up hearing tales about him. Nobody connected him with Leia Organa. Anyway, around that time, Uncle Ezra showed up at Mom’s house and said something was brewing. Something bad was going down in the Unknown Regions. He wanted her to team up with them to take a look, but Mom was getting too old for those kinds of adventures and I wasn’t really interested at the time. Anyhow,” he exhaled, “Uncle Ezra teamed up with Auntie Sabine, and they were sending the occasional message back just to say they were okay, and eventually they were sending back intelligence that I was passing along to the Resistance, but their last message was right before Starkiller Base. And we haven’t heard from them since.”

Chopper wheeled into the lounge area and loudly proclaimed that going missing, and whatever terrible fate befell them, served them right for flying off without him. 

“Hush, Chopper,” said Jacen, but without any real heat. “You know you were never going to leave Mom to go running into more danger.”

Chopper disagreed and went back to the cockpit, shutting the door behind him with a slam that left Rose wincing.

“What do you think happened to them?” asked Rose.

“We don’t know, and I won’t go charging into uncharted space and just hope to stumble across them. No, we need a clearer idea of where to go and what to do. I’m thinking maybe this map in the Jedi texts has something to do with what was going on the Unknown Regions, because whatever it was, it sure was Dark, and it was connected with Palpatine.” 

“And the more you understand Palpatine…and Rey understands her family…” said Rose, putting the pieces together, “the more likely you can figure out what was going on in the Unknown Regions and maybe even find your family.”

“Exactly!” said Jacen. “Honestly, it’s good to hear that you think there’s something to it. It sounded a little crazy in my head.”

He sounded so elated that she understood his train of thought, and his smile lit up his whole face, bringing out adorable dimples, as he leaned forward again. Rose forced herself to look away from the endless ocean of his eyes. Then her gaze landed on his hands, cradling the empty cup, seeing how much closer they had come to where her own hands were holding her cup.

“Anyhow, once Starkiller happened…” he voice trailed off, and he drew himself together, leaning back against the bulkhead, away from her, folding his hands and putting them behind his head, trying to act casual.

Rose pretended not to notice this sudden shift, even as her stomach felt like the artificial gravity had been abruptly turned off, then clicked back on again just as fast.

“After Starkiller,” Jacen said again, his voice cracking.

He finally managed to finish his sentence. “After Starkiller, there were other things going on. The First Order was tightening its grip. We kept on expecting to hear from them again. It took months before Mom started to get worried, but by then, the galaxy was overrun. But after Exegol, and some mop-up against the First Order on Chandrila—yes, see, I’m not totally useless, I helped liberate Chandrila—”

“I never said you were useless,” said Rose, slightly miffed. 

Jacen put up his hands, seeking to placate her. “I know, I know! Just joking. Anyhow, when things calmed down a bit and the Resistance didn’t need me anymore, I started looking for Jedi stuff. I didn’t even know what I was looking for, and I wasn’t getting very far. I figured, if you’re a former Jedi, and then you disappear on a mission just before a Sith lord rises again, then it probably has to do with Jedi stuff. So I was trying to look into that.”

“How did you end up on Tatooine?”

“It wasn’t the first place I looked,” Jacen laughed. “Then a couple weeks ago, Mom mentions how one time Ezra went to Tatooine, all by himself, when he wasn’t supposed to, and found there a Sith lord and a Jedi—but a Sith who wasn’t either Darth Vader or Palpatine. It was Darth Maul. There were hardly any Sith for so long that it seemed strange to me. Then I poked around more and learned that Anakin Skywalker was from that planet. It was as good a lead as any, so I flew to Tatooine, and then I met Rey. Now you know my whole story.”

Rose didn’t need Rey’s Force tricks to know that she didn’t yet have Jacen’s full story, but she wasn’t going to press him any further today. She started to idly pull one of the loose threads on the hem of her red tunic, winding it around her finger and wondering if she should give it to Tran to start building another nest in her drawer. It might help to postpone her and Ackie trying to tear the ship apart.

“So that’s my motivation. What brings you on this wild goose chase, Commander Rose Tico?” He propped up his chin on his hands, gazing at her as if he really wanted to know the answer. “It must be more than just that BeeBee sent you a message.”

“Rey is my friend,” said Rose, a bit defensively. “She is.”

“No doubt. She’s happier than she’s looked since I met her.”

“That might be the porgs.”

“I don’t think it’s just the porgs.”

“Probably not,” Rose admitted. “Yes. I’m here for Rey. But not only for her. I need something to do, a purpose bigger than myself. After the war ended, I was working on a fueling station and helping to repair it with some other mechanics, but we finished everything we needed to do faster than I expected. Then I got BeeBee-Ate’s message. It seemed like a good time to leave, and I had someone who needed my help more than my friends on the Colossus.”

“You didn’t have to come with us to Jakku,” Jacen pointed out, not unreasonably. “You could see Rey was fine. You could have taken your shuttle and gone anywhere you wanted.”

“I don’t know where I want to go next,” Rose answered honestly. 

Jacen looked at the dregs of cocoa in his cup. “I guess that’s something we have in common, then,” he replied. “Only I know where I don’t want to go back.”

“Where’s that?” Rose asked.

“Ryloth.” The way he said it, with a mixture of pain and bitterness, made Rose wonder what had happened there.

“I don’t know it.”

“Home planet for my Mom. That’s where she, and my stepdad, and my little sister are now.”

“How old is your sister?”

“Nessa’s fifteen.”

“That’s a big age gap. I mean—that’s not to say—”

Jacen shook his head and laughed. “It is! I know. I’m old.”

“Not so old…” Rose hedged.

“Yeah, there’s a twenty-year age gap,” said Jacen, answering the question she hadn’t directly asked. “Mom was surprised when she got pregnant again. But I was happy for her. She deserved happiness. She never expected to find love again, and when she did, I’m glad they had Nessa.”

He tapped a puck on a leather bracelet on his wrist, and a holo popped up. Rose could see three Twi’leks: a middle-aged light green woman, a light orange male Twi’lek, who must be her mate, and a bright yellow young teenage girl, with her arms folded, looking mischievous, with a sly smile. She had dark orange patterns tattooed on her lekku, and wore a tan jumpsuit that emphasized her lithe frame.

“Your mom’s a Twi’lek?” Rose said, absorbing this information.

“Yup. Dad was human.”

“But you don’t have lekku.”

Jacen shrugged. “Some of us don’t. But Mom’s a green Twi’lek, so I’m sure you can figure out what I inherited from her,” he said, gesturing to his hair and the tips of his ears that were faintly tinged with green. “I got my piloting skills from her, and my Force sensitivity from my Dad.”

“Are your ears more…” Rose blushed.

“Sensitive?” Jacen filled in, raising his eyebrows. He suddenly loomed over her.

“Sorry if that’s indelicate,” Rose hurried to say. “It’s just that on Nerfherder and the Princess, there’s this Twi’lek character, and she makes a big deal about how her lekku are, you know, um. In private they’re, uh, well, they’re important because touching them is, ah, well…”

“Sensual?” asked Jacen, drawing the word out as she blushed. Now he seemed to be enjoying discomfiting her. “Well. I don’t have any other set of ears, so I don’t know if they’re more sensitive than usual. But aren’t all ears…sensitive?”

Rose squeaked, and tried to think of an answer. 

He wouldn’t look away. As their gazes locked, Rose was startled to feel a heat blossom between her legs, making her very aware of just how skin-tight her leggings were, how the slightest shift of her ankles made her fabric-clad thighs rub together, how her breast band felt a bit tight, how her blood all seemed to be rushing either below her bellybutton or into her ears, how alluring Jacen’s green-tipped ears suddenly seemed to be.

Rose’s hands itched to reach up and touch his face, right there, just to the side of his ear, just to see if—

She was saved from doing something incredibly stupid by Chopper bursting back into the room, announcing to Jacen that they were being hailed with a message from his mother. 

Given how quickly Jacen jumped up from the table and practically sprinted into the cockpit, Rose knew that she hadn’t imagined what had just happened.

\-----  
For the rest of the trip to Jakku, Rose and Jacen dodged each other, managing never to be in the lounge at the same time. Rose prepared two meals for Rey, which CB-23 took in by balancing a tray on her flat head. The tray came back empty both times, so either Rey was getting her appetite back, or meditation in space made you hungrier. Or by the time they arrived at their destination, Shmi would be the fattest porg in history.

Rose spent the rest of the trip to Jakku in her room, fussing over Tran and Ackie and trying to convince CB-23 not to be afraid of Chopper, and BB-8 not to try to challenge Chopper as soon as they got planetside again. 

“We’re guests here,” she scolded him.

BB-8 swore he was owed another rematch with the cantankerous astromech. 

“No, you’re not,” Rose said tartly. “You need to get along, BeeBee. Or at least don’t zap each other.”

CB-23 wasn’t helping with her admiration of BB-8’s courage in facing down the larger droid. Rose gave up and turned back to the porgs, who at least had the sense to just focus on trying to pull apart her blanket.

When they got to Jakku it was twilight, and Rose went up in the gun turret again to watch their descent. She hadn’t really looked around Tatooine in the evening, not even to poke her head out the door—BB-8 had warned her in no uncertain terms about indigenous bandits and raiders—so the beauty of the desert in the fading light, and the stunning flood of intense pastels bathing the sky and sand in luminosity, took her breath away. She simply wasn’t prepared.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed out.

“I guess,” said Rey. Rose was startled to look down and see the Jedi below her. “I never had much time for seeing how beautiful it was. I just had to survive.”

Rose clambered down, noting that Rey’s eyes had taken on that haunted look again. 

“We’re here with you,” she said.

Rey smiled at that, and impulsively hugged her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Rose hugged her back, but also wondered what brought on this weird wave of sentimentality. As they separated, Rose’s arm brushed against Rey’s bare arm, in the spot where she had tied her leather armband during the final year of the war.

Rey involuntarily hissed in pain and clapped her hand over that area, flinching.

“Sorry, sorry!” said Rose. “Can I get you some cream or a bacta patch or something for that area?”

Rey lifted her hand gingerly and stared at the skin beneath it, then shook her head. She looked as if she didn’t quite believe herself when she said, “There’s nothing there. There’s nothing to heal.”

It was perfectly blank, empty skin, without any mark or anything to make it different from the rest of her upper arm. It was somewhat less tan than the surrounding skin, but otherwise there was no difference visible to the naked eye. 

Something about the way Rey had clutched at it, however, reminded Rose of CB-23’s projection. She opened her mouth to ask, but then Jacen came out of the cockpit. 

“It’s nearly nighttime,” he announced, “and we’re a long ways off from Niima Outpost. Tomorrow morning we can take the Phantom over there and see what we can find.”

“Why would we take the smaller shuttle?” asked Rose. “Why not just fly closer to the outpost?”

“Unkar Plutt will try to sabotage this ship and dismantle it for scrap,” Rey said, shaking her head. “We can’t trust anyone on this planet.”

“Wonderful place to grow up,” said Jacen.

“It really wasn’t,” Rey said. She turned and went back into her room. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, and shut her door.

Jacen and Rose just stood there in the corridor, alone except for two droids and two porgs, one of whom was currently trying to burrow its way into Rose’s pocket and the other of which had landed on Jacen’s shoulder and was tugging at a loose thread on his tunic.

“How about a friendly game of sabacc?” he suggested, pulling Ackie off his shoulder.

“With a Force-sensitive?” Rose snorted. “No way.”

“Good call.”

“Because you’d use the Force to cheat?”

“No, because Lando Calrissian knew my folks, and once he visited me and Mom and taught me how to cheat at sabacc.”

Rose laughed. “I’ve met Lando. So we’re definitely doing a different game.” 

They wound up playing dejarik for hours, so evenly matched neither could pull far ahead in their tally of games. Finally Rose’s yawns overcame her and she went to bed. Rose drifted off to sleep with the cooing sounds of Tran and Ackie from the drawer beneath her bunk, and a smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Oscar Isaac has Guatemalan ancestry, and Tik'al in Guatemala, with its Mayan ruins, was used as a filming location for Yavin 4, which is a point of pride for many Guatemalans. In recognition of this, his character Poe Dameron was given a backstory that he grew up on Yavin 4. (That's before the insanity that was TROS, in which this impeccably created backstory woven through years of comics and novels was shot to pieces, but whatever.) 
> 
> Guatemala in our world exports cocoa beans, and in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica cocoa beans were even used as currency, so I'd like to think that in the GFFA, there are cocoa bean farmers on Yavin 4 as well.
> 
> Plus, I just really wanted to give Rose a mug of hot cocoa when she was feeling sad about Paige. If there's any character who deserves an occasional mug of hot cocoa, it would be Rose. How could she not have feelings for a man who introduces her to chocolate?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to Jakku, where Rey confronts Unkar Plutt and tries to learn more about the parents who sold her to him. Rose notices several odd things, and learns more about the weird Force things happening with Rey. The girls spend some quality time hanging out together on the Ghost as they head in to Coruscant, though Rose can't completely shake her feeling that they're in danger.

Rose was awoken the next morning by Rey banging on her door until she stumbled out of bed. 

“C’mon, sun’s up,” said Rey, looking slightly frantic. She had changed into a more form-fitting tan outfit that covered nearly every inch of her skin, perhaps to better endure Jakku's climate. “Let’s go!”

“Gimme a minute,” Rose mumbled, rubbing her messy hair, and to her disgust, finding porg feathers tangled in it.

She turned to glare at Tran, who was smugly chirping from the pillow—which she’d started to rip apart—and when she turned back, Jacen was standing behind Rey in the hallway, already dressed for the day, and looking as surprised as she felt to see her still in sleepwear and with untidy hair, with porg feathers flying everywhere.

“Morning good,” Rose sputtered. “I mean, bright suns! I mean, good morning! I’ll be ready soon!” 

“Rose, it’s—”

She didn’t wait to hear what Jacen had to say to the horror of seeing her first thing in the morning. She just slammed the control panel to shut her door and turned back to Tran, still chirping. 

“Oh, that’s easy for you to say,” she muttered, glaring at the smug porg. “You always look cute.”

“We need to leave soon, before the sun’s too high in the sky,” hollered Rey through the door.

“I know!” Rose yelled back, wrenching her clothes out of the porg-less drawer and scrambling for a hairbrush.

Faster than she thought possible, Rose was leaving the Ghost with Jacen, Rey, and BB-8, flying in the little secondary shuttle, the Phantom, that Jacen kept anchored on top. As they flew, Rose gulped a protein shake for breakfast. Rey wasn’t willing to wait for anything. Not even food. 

For Rey, turning down food was unprecedented.

“I hope when we come back from Niima Outpost, Chopper hasn’t done anything to the rollie or the porgs,” grumbled Jacen.

BB-8 wailed in horror.

“SeeBee can take care of herself,” Rose said. “Don’t worry, BeeBee-Ate. Nothing will happen to her.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’s tough," Jacen admitted, "but Chopper is…resourceful. He's pretty tough.”

“Then why did you leave him in charge?”

“He's reliable, and he’ll give us a pickup if anything goes wrong.”

“What would go wrong?” asked Rose.

“I have no idea,” sighed Jacen. “But out here, who knows.”

Rose looked over at Rey, hoping that the Jakku native would give them information about what to expect. Rey, however, was biting her upper lip and holding herself very, very still, so still it was almost as if she was really vibrating with tension but repressing it. Rose noticed that Rey kept rubbing her upper arm, the place she'd grabbed on the recording and where she'd reacted when Rose touched her there.

“What do you need me to do?” Rose asked as Jacen set the Phantom down. “You two can use the Force to sense if anyone’s lying…to look for…clues, but I don’t know how I can help.”

Rey seemed to snap out of her trance. “You know ship parts better than anyone,” she said. “Watch what’s going on and see if anyone is being cheated out of what it’s worth, or exploited.”

“Okay,” said Rose. 

“I just…I don’t trust myself to look at things straight here,” said Rey, taking a deep breath. “You will. Let me know if anyone needs our help, okay? Especially any…children.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” said Rey. Then, uncharacteristically, she reached out for her hand and squeezed it, shooting Rose a sad smile before they headed down the ramp into the blinding sun.

Ah. That’s what Rey wasn’t saying. She had been one of the exploited, cheated scavengers at the outpost, one of the lost children, and she was scared to come back here, even though she was now a Jedi. No wonder she wanted BB-8 to accompany them on this trip back; the orange-and-white ball droid had begun Rey’s journey off-planet, and had been with her when she escaped this desolate rock.

Rey forged ahead with BB-8 and Jacen. Rose hung back as they approached the central hub of activity, a booth underneath some tarps strung up to keep out the sun. Looking around, Rose saw a variety of humans and aliens, dragging scrap and salvage on a variety of rafts. Nobody looked particularly happy, but nobody looked to be in danger, either. Although Rose found judging the ages of unfamiliar species—and sometimes familiar ones as well—difficult, she did not see any beings who appeared especially young or vulnerable.

But someone was watching them. She knew it. She knew it partly because she’d been the one who had been doing so much watching for months after Crait, trying to figure out Finn without anyone noticing she was watching him. Rose didn’t have to be Force-sensitive to pick up on the funny feeling on the back of her neck, the shadow just out of the corner of her eye.

She deliberately fell behind the others, sliding off to the side, and by dodging quickly around one of the booths, she could just see the figure, wrapped in dark cloths, about Rey’s height, and wearing goggles, holding some sort of transmitter in one hand—

“IT’S YOUR FAULT!” screamed Rey so loudly that Rose couldn’t help but look over.

Rey was completely losing all composure as she shrieked at a large Crolute in a central booth, who must have been Unkar Plutt. Jacen was trying to pull Rey back, but she whipped out her lightsaber and ignited it.

Rose felt like when she got a concussion, when she was hit saving Finn from certain and pointless death on Crait. Her vision narrowed to just Rey and Jacen, who had stumbled back from the furious woman as she brandished her lightsaber in front of the terrified Crolute. A deafening, ringing silence filled her ears, and she knew she was yelling at Rey, but she couldn’t hear it at first. 

She was vaguely aware of commotion rising as others in the outpost caught sight of the yellow beam of the lightsaber, a sight not seen in Jakku in living memory and many generations before that as well. 

“Rey, don’t!” yelled Rose, her hearing suddenly clearing. 

Rey turned her head for an instant towards her, and Rose could see Rey’s lips pulled back in a snarl, her entire face contorted with rage, with absolute incandescent anger, before she turned back and advanced, cutting down the front counter of the booth with several angry slashes as Unkar Plutt ran out the back.

“Stop!” Jacen hollered, as Rey took off after Unkar Plutt. Several of the more enterprising in the crowd ran forward to the booth, now partially demolished, and started grabbing packets of portions, raiding Unkar's stash in glee. 

Unkar Plutt ran towards where Rose was standing, and Rey and Jacen came after him. 

As Unkar barreled towards her, Rose jumped aside, but had the presence of mind to stick out her leg as he came at her. He tripped and flew straight into a pile of boxes, scattering them. Rose also fell back on the sand from the sheer impact of his massive body hurtling into her. Rey was there in an instant.

Then Rose saw the most astonishing thing. Just as Rey reached Unkar, lightsaber drawn, teeth gritted in fury, she skidded to a stop.

She gasped and grabbed her upper right arm, turning her head to the side. 

“Ben,” she whispered, looking straight at nothing.

Rey crumbled to the sand, dropping her lightsaber. Rose lurched forward, catching Rey as she collapsed on top of her.

“I can’t,” Rey mumbled, slumped over Rose.

Something told Rose that Rey wasn’t talking to her, or anyone that Rose could see.

Jacen ran up and whipped out his blaster, pointing it down at Unkar Plutt. "Answer. Her. Question."

“I’m sorry!” wheezed Unkar Plutt, who was now rocking back and forth, trying to get up, but wiggling sideways more than anything else. “I don’t know anything else! They didn’t give their names!”

“What can you tell us?” demanded Jacen, standing over the man and glaring at him. “What about their clothes?”

“I don’t know!” cried Unkar Plutt.

Rey looked up, suddenly collecting herself, though Rose could see tears still swimming in her eyes. “Tell us everything you remember,” she said, in a calmer voice, as she waved her hand before the frantic alien’s eyes. 

“I don’t remember anything more! I don’t have anything to tell you!” he yelped.

Rey gritted her teeth and looked ready to summon her lightsaber again when Rose asked, ““What about their language?”

“Language?” Unkar Plutt asked. His gravely voice sounded confused.

“Did they speak Basic?” Rose pressed. “Did they speak another language between the two of them? What kind of accent did they have? That could tell us something about where they were from.”

“Oh, yeah,” said the alien, sniffling a bit and still trying to squirm himself into a seated position. “That was strange. The man talked fancy. Like from the Core Worlds. Coruscant, maybe. Woman was maybe Mid-Rim. Junk traders sellin’ their kid, for hardly any money—just enough for some drinking, couple nights at a cantina. But then they’re kissin’ you and muttering silly nonsense words, over and over. They were dressed all filthy-like and desperate. Didn’t even stop to bargain, just insisted you could earn your keep scavenging scrap, that you were strong. Very strong. Kept saying that.”

Rey stared at him, straining…and Rose got the idea she was rifling through his mind. Unkar looked absolutely terrified. Rey gritted her teeth, whispered something to herself, and then, finally, let him go, exhaling and closing her eyes, centering herself once more. She stood up, rubbing her arm again. 

“He doesn’t have anything else,” Rey said, resigned. 

“Sounds like we’re going to Coruscant next, then,” said Jacen. 

“Sure,” said Rey, moving away from him. Rose, however, took his hand, and Jacen pulled her up. She reveled in the touch for a moment—his grip was warm and firm, his larger hand completely covering hers—and then he dropped it, and turned away to follow BB-8.

When Rose looked around, she had, yet again, a feeling of being watched, but she didn’t see the shrouded figure again.

“Help me get up!” called Unkar Plutt as they walked away. He was still struggling and rolling around, scrabbling for purchase on the slippery sand.

“No,” said Rey, not even turning to look.

Unkar Plutt roared, “Girl, you still owe me—”

BB-8 rolled over and popped out his little blowtorch in an unmistakably threatening move. Unkar Plutt shut up, and they trudged away.

When Rose looked back, she couldn't find the shrouded figure anywhere, and that struck her as even more ominous than seeing them in the first place.

\------  
Rose waited until they were back aboard the Ghost, with Jacen making his pre-flight checks up in the cockpit with Chopper, to corner Rey in her room and demand, “What happened out there?”

“You saw what happened,” said Rey, keeping her eyes focused on Shmi in her lap. She was petting the little porg as if that was the most important thing in the world. 

“Yes, but I didn’t understand it,” Rose said, hands on her hips. “Explain yourself.”

“I asked Unkar Plutt what he remembered about my parents, and he gave us the little information he had. And now we’re going to Coruscant. Like Jacen wanted in the first place.”

“Just like that? You come back to your home planet for the first time in a year and a half, and after you yell at, and threaten, the monster who bought you and exploited you for scavenging, you’re just going to leave again?”

“I looked in his mind,” said Rey, still fussing over Shmi and refusing to meet Rose’s eyes. “I saw the whole memory. He didn’t know anything else that could help us.”

“We came all the way back to Jakku, and now you’re just going to leave?”

“What is there to stay for?”

“I don’t know,” said Rose, flopping down on the bed beside her and trying to find a way to articulate what made her so uneasy. “Isn’t there anyone else to question? Any other leads?”

Rey snorted. “No. My parents didn’t exactly stick around and exchange their life stories with the locals.”

“Didn’t you make any friends on Jakku?”

“Before BB-8? Not really.”

“Wasn’t there anything at home, where you lived, that you’d want to go back and get?”

Rey sighed. “I already looked. It’s all empty. Others took everything.”

“When did you look?”

“First thing this morning, before the sun was up. I took the Phantom, went out to my old place. It was really picked over. Only thing that was left—” she pulled out a bundle of white and orange fabric from underneath her pillow, “—was this doll I made myself.”

“Oh, Rey,” Rose breathed softly. “Why didn’t you take us with you?”

Rey shrugged, stashing the doll back under her pillow. “I had to do it by myself. I lived there by myself, you see.”

“You should put that in a drawer, you know. Otherwise Shmi will scavenge it for a nest.”

Rey laughed. “Is that what happened to your hair and pillow?”

“Yup,” Rose grinned. Then she sobered. “But it’s not just that. What happened when you were chasing after Unkar? What made you stop?”

Rey closed her eyes briefly, and then flicked her wrist to slide the door shut with the Force. “Don’t tell Jacen, or anyone. You can’t. But…I felt him. Ben.”

“You felt him? Like, you saw his Force ghost.”

“No. Like in the Bond. Like I used to when he was—before Exegol.”

Rose noted how Rey couldn’t bring herself to say, “when he was alive.” 

“And now…” Rey pushed up her sleeve. “Look what’s coming back.”

Rose peered at the skin Rey was pointing to, where she could see a faint reddish mark, a pale blister, a jagged scar that looked a bit like an abstract painting of two hands touching.

“What is that?”

“It’s an injury I got in the throne room,” Rey explained, pulling down her sleeve again. “When Ben and I fought against Snoke’s guards, after Ben killed him.”

“You always covered it up before.”

“Of course I did! I mean, it was a scar I got fighting with the current Supreme Leader, when we teamed up to fight against and take down the original Supreme Leader. But then Ben healed it.”

“When did he do that?”

“When he brought me back to life.” Rey’s eyes were watery. “When I saved him on the Death Star, it healed the scar I gave him in our first battle, on Starkiller Base. Then when Ben saved me in Exegol, he healed this scar, which I got when we were battling Snoke’s guards. It was completely gone. But the past couple weeks, it’s been coming back.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. It’s been…reemerging. Sometimes I get flares of pain there, or it’s sensitive. But now it’s getting more visible. And I’m starting to feel…”

“Yes?” Rose prompted. 

“I’m starting to feel like Ben isn’t really gone,” Rey burst out. “I think he’s still out there. I think he can come back! I never saw his Force ghost—don’t look at me like that, he died in the Light side of the Force, I know it!”

“Did you feel him on Jakku? Just now? Is that why you stopped attacking Unkar Plutt?”

“Yes,” Rey whispered. “I know it sounds crazy. I know it sounds impossible. He should be gone. He should be a Force ghost, if anything. But that’s not what’s happening. It’s like he’s stuck, somehow. That’s why I have to understand everything about what really happened, about Palpatine’s plan—which still doesn’t make any sense to me—and about this in-between world, because it feels like the one clue I have that there’s something else out there, some kind of connection that defies space and time, and maybe even death itself.”

“Hold up,” said Rose, putting her hands up. “You need to talk to Jacen about all this Force stuff. I don’t understand it.”

“He doesn’t really either,” sighed Rey. “His dad was a Jedi but he’s never been trained. All the Jedi are gone now. It’s just me. Me and some dusty old books.”

“Well, we’re going to Coruscant next,” said Rose. “Maybe there we can find some answers. Any answers.”

She hated to admit it, but it did sound like Rey was perhaps going a little crazy. That, or the Force was even weirder than Rose thought. Right now, either answer seemed equally likely. 

“In the meantime,” said Rey, opening one of her drawers, “maybe see what you can do with this. I don’t know how to get the casing open again without harming the crystal inside.” She handed over an unfamiliar lightsaber. “It’s Leia’s. I know how to get Luke’s open—I had to put it back together after it split—but I haven’t deconstructed Leia’s saber yet.”

Rose took the saber gingerly. It felt strangely warm to the touch, and something about the rose gold design reminded her of General Organa, sleek and sophisticated but lit from within by a ferocious fire.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she promised. “But in the meanwhile, I think you need some downtime. SeeBee?”

The ball droid rolled in, beeping eagerly. 

“Excellent,” said Rose, pulling Rey up with her onto the bed and fluffing up some pillows for them to lean against, instead of just the wall. “Now, SeeBee has only downloaded the first five episodes to start, and you’re pretty far behind, but the opening really is a classic.”

“What IS this?” said Rey, as CB-23 dimmed the overhead light, then backed up and started projecting onto the closed door.

“THIS,” Rose said, sweeping her arm grandly, “is a holodrama, and exactly what you need to take your mind off the Jedi, and the Force, and everything you’ve been thinking about for way too long.”

Shmi, Tran, and Ackie—the latter two porgs had gotten into the room when Rose wasn’t looking—hopped up on their laps and settled in, just as if they, too, knew it was time for some quality escapist romance.

It took them three standard days in hyperspace to get to Coruscant, during which time Rose and Rey just…hung out. It was nice to do that again, hanging out with a female friend. They hadn’t been very close during the year they were both in the Resistance, but that was enough of a shared history to make them comfortable around each other. There were things that could be left unspoken.

Rose was surprised, on reflection, to realize that after her time spent on the Colossus, being around Rey didn’t hurt any more. Some things had started to heal, after all. 

Jacen mostly left them to their own devices, except for meals. He continued to prove himself a surprisingly good cook, even with the limited rations available on the Ghost. They were having such a relaxing, pleasant couple of days—even Chopper had come to some sort of understanding with the ball droids and no longer regularly threatened to deactivate them—that Rose hesitated to bring up her sense of being spied on back on Jakku.

But as they lingered over caf on their last morning, Rose felt like she had to burst the happy bubble the three of them had started to create. 

“Before we get to Coruscant,” Rose said, “I need to ask. Did either of you see—or sense—someone following us, and watching us, at Niima Outpost?”

Rey looked worried. “No, I didn’t sense anything amiss on Jakku,” she said slowly, “but I wasn’t looking for any threats. I was so focused on getting to Unkar and finding out what he knew.”

“Me neither,” said Jacen. “But I’m not sure I was paying attention to anything except Unkar Plutt, and Rey’s crazy lightsaber antics.” He smiled at her, gently teasing, but Rey didn’t seem to fully absorb what he was saying.

“So you saw someone?”

“I think so. Didn’t get a good look; they were all wrapped up. Looked like a human, or humanoid. They had some kind of transmitter or communicator in their hand.”

“Well, we stuck out like a Wookie in an Ewok village,” Jacen replied. “So I’m sure a lot of people at Niima Outpost were watching us.”

“Yes, but this person didn’t want to be seen,” Rose insisted. 

“That is strange,” Rey conceded, “but I didn’t sense any dangers through the Force. It’s probably not important. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“But it’s good to know that you were concerned,” Jacen added. “We should all keep an eye out. Let us know if you see anyone tailing us again, Rose.” He grinned at her and speared another dumpling. “It never hurts to be cautious. Just don’t tell Chopper—the last thing I need is to feed that droid’s paranoia complex. He’ll decide they’re coming for him specifically.”

Rey snorted and pushed back her mug. “Okay,” she said, “I know we’re coming in to Coruscant, but I think we should have enough time to finish The Nerfherder and the Princess season two finale.”

“Just about,” said Rose, jumping up. “I’ll get SeeBee to cue it up!”

“Fine, I’ll just bring the Ghost in by myself,” called Jacen down the hall. “Don’t mind me. Go back to all your fun.”

Even though she’d already seen this episode with Torra, Rose found it gripping on rewatch, and had to keep herself from mouthing along the key lines when the two main protagonists finally confessed their love to each other, right before the titular princess, turned, head held high, and walked up the ramp of the shuttle that would take her to the arranged marriage she dreaded.

“I’ve never really seen a holodrama before,” Rey admitted, wiping away tears after the final credits faded away and the last swells of music were done. “It’s amazing.”

“I’m so glad you like it!” Rose said. “My friend Torra introduced me to this one. Paige and I usually preferred ones that are more, you know, contemporary, but sometimes you just want a good historical.”

“Mmmm,” Rey said, tying off the end of the complicated Alderaan-style braid she’d been weaving into Rose’s hair. After days of practicing on each other’s hair while they watched the holodrama, both girls were getting quite adept at imitating various hair styles they’d seen General Organa wear.

“It adds to the whole escapist element, you know?” Rose continued. “Imagining life before the Clone Wars, when the galaxy was at peace, and the most dangerous thing that anyone could worry about was a political scandal because of two lovers from different societies finding each other, against all odds.”

When Rose turned around to face her, Rey was smiling, her eyes alight with mischief. “You just like the handsome farmer,” she teased. 

“It’s more than just that!” Rose protested, her cheeks growing warm. “He’s a really good actor! But that’s not the point. It’s compelling drama, with well-written dialogue—”

“—and when he sneaks into the ball on Naboo disguised as one of the queen’s handmaidens,” Rey interrupted, straight-faced, “and gets caught by the Duchess of Mandalore and strip-searched oh-so-slowly, and she forces him to take off all his clothes to prove he’s a man, I’m sure you were thinking about the well-written dialogue.”

Rose burst out laughing again, falling back against the bed with such force that Ackie, who had been sitting on the mattress, popped into the air and nearly hit the bottom of the bunk above.

Jacen yelled through the door, “We’re coming in to Coruscant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted Rey to get a chance to confront Unkar Plutt, and rescue the little doll from the beginning of TFA, but I didn't want to hang around Jakku too long, and I thought that if anything would push her over the edge, and reconnect her with Ben, it would be confronting her feelings around being abandoned on Jakku. Also, by now you've probably figured out that in my story, empathy and observation--which Rose has in spades--matter just as much, if not more, than the Force. Being Force-sensitive doesn't make Jacen magically more perceptive around a woman he's only known slightly for a few weeks.
> 
> If you're thinking there were a lot of hints in this chapter that are going to be picked up and explained later, you're absolutely right. I'm pretty far ahead of here in my writing, and I've seeded several key clues that will be returned to later.
> 
> The next chapter will be told from Jacen's perspective since it's important for us to be introduced to Coruscant from his point of view, and understand what's going on for him emotionally when he returns there. But never fear, we'll then go back to Rose's POV, stay with her going forward.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is told from Jacen Syndulla's POV. 
> 
> Our heroes come into Coruscant, and we learn more about Jacen's past, his connections on Coruscant, and his own losses in the war. Jacen, Rey and Rose scavenge the ruins of the Jedi Temple, seeking holocrons and records. Rose finds ways to make herself useful, and catches our narrator's attention in ways he's not quite sure how to handle, while Rey and Jacen clash about their differing perspectives on the Force and the Jedi.
> 
> (Note: Jacen is the child of characters from the animated SW Rebels, and his perspective on the Jedi and Sith doesn't come from stories about the Skywalkers. For him, it's all about his father Kanan and his friends. He's not particularly interested in the Skywalker/Palpatine lineage and doesn't know much about it, and doesn't yet know Kylo Ren was Ben Solo, or about Ben's connection with Rey, or about Rey's supposed connection to Palpatine. And Rey's in no hurry to enlighten him, or the galaxy at large.)

When Jacen tapped on the panel to open the door to Rey’s room—where he could hear them giggling and laughing together like girls, rather than the twenty-something women they were—he was immediately blinded.

“Hey!” he yelped, putting his arm up to protect his eyes. “Watch what you’re doing there!”

“Sorry!” called out Rose, and the light turned off. Jacen lowered his arm to glare at CB-23, still seeing spots. She gave a long, low whistle of contrition and zoomed off down the hallway.

“We were watching a holodrama,” Rose told him, bouncing out of the room. Rey looked sheepish—as if it was beneath the dignity of the galaxy’s last Jedi to be watching soapy melodramas—but happy. Lighter. 

“I just wanted you to know we’re about to come out of hyperspace, and Coruscant is something to see,” Jacen said. “Come on up to the cockpit.”

They followed him and took seats just in time to view the streaks of light resolving once more into pinpricks of stars. 

“Oh my,” breathed Rey from the co-pilot’s seat. She was clearly stunned by the sheer amount of traffic surrounding the planet, but Jacen couldn’t look back to see Rose’s reaction. He was too busy steering the Ghost, trying to weave in and out of the congestion.

They had clearance to land at a pad attached to an apartment complex not far from the old Senate building. Jacen powered down and took a deep breath, looking out to see if anyone was there to greet them.

He didn’t see anyone, and could nearly exhale in relief, until a chrome-plated protocol droid walked out onto the pad.

“Oh no,” he groaned. “Our welcoming committee—Chopper, wait!”

The furious astromech was barreling down the hatch immediately, skimming along on his center wheel, waving his arms furiously and knocking over crates in the hold as he went. Jacen managed to catch up just in time to hear the droid respond, “How rude!”

“Hello, TeeSee,” Jacen said, with a sigh. “Please don’t mind Chopper—Chop, don’t you dare!”

Grumbling, the droid put away his electrical probe.

“Greetings, Master Syndulla,” said TC-84 primly. “I received your message and passed it on to Master Guafri. He bids you welcome. The guest quarters are ready for you and your guests.”

“Thank you, TeeSee. Is,” Jacen heard his voice crack and wanted to kick himself, “is Master Guafri at home?”

“No. He is off-planet for the next ten rotations.”

Jacen exhaled. “Please tell him thank you from me.” 

“You do not wish to communicate your appreciation yourself?”

“Yes, I’ll do that too,” said Jacen, annoyed at being scolded by a protocol droid. He followed TC-84 into the building, gesturing to Rose and Rey to come along.

“I’m afraid we only have two rooms available in the guest wing,” the silver-plated droid said, gesturing towards the guest wing. “But the bed in one of them is very large, so it could be shared.”

“I’ll stay on the Ghost, then,” said Jacen, squashing treacherous thoughts of the nice, soft, comfortable beds in this house, and exactly how familiar he was with them.

“Oh, no,” Rey piped up. “I’ll stay on the Ghost.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rose objected. “We can share.”

Jacen’s heart stopped for a moment.

“Rey, it’s no big deal. My sister Paige and I used to do it all the time when quarters were short in the Resistance. You don’t snore, do you?”

“Not that I know of,” she said, warily. 

“Good, then that’s settled.” Rose peered up at TC-84. “Could you show us to our room please?”

“Right this way, Miss—?”

“Rose, Miss Rose. And your name is?”

“I am TeeSee-Ate-Four, protocol droid,” he answered, showing her down the hallway, “and I have been working here since before the Republic was—”

“How do you have connections here?” demanded Rey, turning to face Jacen in the central living area. She put her hands on her hips and Jacen noted dryly that she was back to being dressed all in white, like an avenging angel. “Whose place are we staying in?”

“Former friend. Current friend, I guess, if he’s letting us stay here. Mungo Guafri did always have a good heart.” Chopper loudly disagreed from the corner. “Okay, except for that one time. But he paid us eventually!”

“So a former client?”

“Yeah, I used to fly him around. Him and his niece.” Jacen turned away from her gaze and focused his view out the window, watching the lines of sky traffic flow past. It was a gorgeous day, with a bright blue sky and hardly a cloud to be seen.

There was a long, long, long pause. Long enough that Jacen could start to hope that Rey wouldn’t pick up on his tone and ask more questions. 

“His niece?” said Rey.

Jacen silently cursed her Force-sensitivity. Or perhaps it was just so obvious. He stood up from the couch and went over to lean by the window.

“Yes, his niece. We had a, a thing. We were—well, I don’t know what we were. But we were together.”

“You were in love?” asked Rey.

“Maybe,” said Jacen. 

He could almost see Karva standing there by the window, next to him, the last time they were together on Coruscant. Then it was storming outside, a dark night ripped apart by jagged lightning racing across the sky. She was laughing at him, a pilot who was skittish at thunder. He didn’t have the heart to tell her he had seen, in his dreams, his mother’s nightmares of Force lightning, from the war. He couldn’t bring himself to admit that he was haunted, through the Force, of visions he could barely understand that always came back to lightning, and agony, and horror. But Karva was fearless, and unafraid, and had grown up on Ryloth in peace. Her sensitive lekku were covered with tattoos showing her defiance of pain, she wore form-fitting dresses that skimmed her perfect figure, and she was so bold. She never let anyone intimidate her or out-talk her. Jacen couldn’t mind, though, that she saw his terror, his fear, his imperfection. Karva was so perfect he wanted nothing more than for her to know him fully, all of him.

At one moment lightning flashed across her face, so close even she jumped a little. In between flashes, as she laughed, he leaned forward, grabbed her and kissed her, his hands framing her face.

“Yes,” Jacen admitted, coming out of the memory. “I was in love with her. We weren’t together very long, but I was in love.”

“You don’t always need a long time to know how you feel,” said Rey softly.

“But then she died,” Jacen choked out, still facing out the transparisteel but seeing nothing before him. “Karva was a diplomat. She was our representative for Ryloth, and she was on Hosnian Prime. I was supposed to be visiting her, but I got delayed. When I arrived…it was an asteroid field. Like they say Alderaan was after the Death Star blew it up. If I’d been an hour sooner, I’d have been blown up too.”

“Oh no,” breathed a sad female voice, and Jacen didn’t even have to turn his head to know it was Rose, standing in the doorway to the living room, with a stricken look on her face. The light from the windows caught her in its glow. She had taken her hair out of the braided updo, and the black silk flowed down around her shoulders. 

Jacen had to avert his eyes from her radiance.

“A lot of good people died when Starkiller Base was fired,” said Rey, in a voice choked with grief and something else that Jacen couldn’t quite identify. “Snoke destroyed a lot of lives.”

“The First Order destroyed her,” said Jacen, staring out the window again but seeing none of it.

“Snoke,” Rey insisted. “It was him. Him and Hux. Or—I guess now, Palpatine. I think. I’m not entirely sure which plots came from who.”

“Does it matter?” snorted Jacen. “If the First Order did it—”

“Of course it matters,” Rey interrupted. “It always matters who ordered it, who pulled the trigger, who masterminded it. The whole organization can’t be judged by the actions of a few people. Most of those Stormtroopers were conscripted as little kids, they were brainwashed, lots of people were lied to and manipulated and controlled, and if you have someone in your head whispering to you all your life—”

“Okay!” Rose interrupted, grabbing Rey’s hand. Rose’s eyes darted to the side and Jacen saw, in horror, that several small objects on one of the side tables—just a lamp and a few objets d’art—had started to levitate in response to Rey’s agitation, but then they settled back down as Rey closed her eyes and breathed a long exhale.

“Anyway, Mungo Guafri owes me one, or two,” said Jacen. “We can lie low here for a couple days while we look around Coruscant. I imagine you don’t want people to know you’re here in an official capacity?”

“Official capacity?”

“Jedi business.”

Rey shuddered. “Oh, no, I don’t. I don’t want anyone to know who I am.”

“Well, then you should wear something different and try not to look so much like yourself,” Rose suggested. “Different hairstyle. Different clothes.”

“What’s wrong with these?”

“They’re a bit…distinctive,” said Rose carefully. “Do you know how many holos and posters your face is on these days?”

“I think there’s even a Rey figurine,” added Jacen.

Rey’s expression of shock told him everything he needed to know about her awareness of her galatic fame. “Help me,” she said, turning to Rose.

“Sure,” she said, eying the girl critically. “How would you feel about a haircut?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Okay…what about borrowing one of Jacen’s cloaks and covering you up a bit? Maybe just wearing your hair down? And not wearing all the arm wraps and the long flowy scarves. C’mon, it won’t take long. Nobody ever looks past surfaces.” 

Rey let Rose drag her back to the back rooms. “We can change my look,” she agreed, “but then we’re heading straight to the Jedi temple to see what we can scavenge!”

“I don’t know how much we’ll find,” Jacen called, wanting to temper her enthusiasm.

“Oh, I’ll find something,” Rey said grimly. “I always do.”

When the two women emerged a half-hour later, Jacen was struck by Rey’s transformation. With her hair in two buns on either side of her head, and darker makeup—a darker red mouth and kohl lining her eyes—Rey looked quite different, and she had swapped her characteristic outfit for black leggings and an overly-large black sweater, so big it was nearly a mini-dress on her, on top of which she had tied a festive orange sash as a sort of belt. She was strapping on a pack that Jacen suspected contained her lightsaber, since he knew enough to know that no Jedi would go anywhere without their saber.

Rose looked extremely pleased by her handiwork. She was still wearing her hair down, though she’d tied back the front bits, and on a closer glance, he could see that she had also done something to her eyes and mouth as well, matching Rey’s makeup. Rose was wearing a orange tunic that was shorter than the red one she’d worn earlier, and Jacen suspected, from its ragged edge, that Rose had sacrificed the bottom section to create Rey’s orange belt.

“You look great,” said Jacen. Even Chopper made approving noises.

“Be safe!” called out TC-84 as they left. 

“We will! Thank you!” replied Rose, waving to him. Jacen had to suppress a smile. 

“Now Chopper, you stay with the Ghost. Make sure no one messes with it while we’re gone. We’re taking the Phantom.”

Chopper saluted him but added his own comment, as usual.

“And be nice to the porgs,” Jacen warned. “I mean it!”

“We’re taking SeeBee with us,” Rose added.

“What?”

“C’mon Rey, we might need her to download information, or hack into things.”

“BeeBee-Ate can do that.”

“Has BeeBee-Ate been optimized with hacking subroutines, stealth tech to cover up intrusions, and an algorithm to break passwords on outdated data ports?”

“My goodness, what were you doing with that droid?” Jacen asked in wonder. 

Rose shrugged. “The Colossus—that’s where we were working together—has some pretty old, Imperial-era tech on it, even some Old Republic hardware, so I gave her a few upgrades. The rest was done during the war by Neeku, the head mechanic on the Colossus, during the war. The Colossus was on the run and they had to get creative.”

“It sounds like she’s the better droid for the mission,” Jacen admitted.

“Fine,” sighed Rey. “But I’m not the one who’s going to explain to BeeBee that he’s grounded because someone else is better at hacking.”

“I’ll do it,” said Rose, bounding ahead into the Ghost. 

“She’s good with droids,” Jacen observed. 

“Yes,” Rey admitted. “With people, too. I just hope the temple really does have the kind of records we need.”

“What exactly are we looking for?”

“Anything about Force vergences, Chain Worlds Theorum, Exegol, other Sith worlds, the first Jedi, Ahch-To, the Unknown Regions…anything like that.”

“So weird Force stuff.”

“Yeah, weird Force stuff,” Rey agreed. She swung up the ladder into the Phantom while Jacen waited beneath for Rose to return, which she soon did with a very excited CB-23 who she handed up to him to carry into the shuttle.

As they pulled away from the Ghost and set course towards the Jedi temple, Jacen muttered under his breath, “Well, that was easier than I expected.”

“What was easier?” asked Rose, suddenly at his elbow. 

“Revisiting a place where I was last with someone who’s gone now.” 

“I’m sorry,” she said. Rose sounded genuine. She always sounded genuine. Jacen was starting to think she was exactly as open and honest as she seemed, and he wasn’t always sure what to do with that. 

“You’d have liked her,” was all Jacen could bring himself to say in response.

\----------  
The Jedi temple was so full of echoes of pain and shrieks of terror that at first Jacen almost couldn’t get through the doorway—or rather, the fairly stable-looking opening—that Rey had found at its base. He stumbled and nearly fell, but luckily Rose caught him, her hands grabbing his left arm just in time to jerk him back upright.

“Thank you.”

“Are you okay? You look pale,” she said.

“I can feel them,” he said, gritting his teeth. “The younglings who were slaughtered here. I can hear them.”

“Oh,” said Rose, quietly.

“This way!” called Rey from up ahead, and they hurried down the hallway after her, following the yellow glow of her lightsaber and the fluttering of the ends of her bright orange belt as she jogged down the twisting subterranean corridors. “I think this staircase will take us up to the main floors where we need to go.”

“Slow down!” said Rose, her call echoing off the walls. “We don’t all have the Force to give us a boost.”

Rey slowed down slightly, and Jacen hung back, letting Rose go in front of him up the staircase. It was narrow, and crumbling, and while Rey could bound up it, taking the steps two at a time, Rose needed to be more careful, putting her hands out occasionally to push against the wall as she navigated the stairs. But she made it, and then Rey was there using the Force to unlock a door and push it aside without a thought.

“Wow,” was all Jacen could say as they burst into the central area of the temple. 

He wasn’t prepared for such impossibly high ceilings; the vault must have been fifteen or twenty standard stories high, at least. There was ash everywhere, and dust, the detritus of decades, and here and there he saw vermin scuttling through the shadows. But the majesty of the old building was clear, and the tall windows—cracked in places and grimy—still let in light from the late afternoon sun that streamed across the marble floor.

“I had no idea my Dad grew up in a place that looked like this,” he breathed. Then another wave of shock and horror hit him, with echoes of a bloodlust that made him gag. Jacen hunched over, arms crossing his arms and rocking back and forth, trying not to vomit.

“Are you okay?” asked Rey. Rose put out a hand on his shoulder, as if to steady him.

“Yes,” he huffed. “Just need a minute. I can still feel…the bad things that happened here.” He stared at the marble floor until spots stopped swimming in his vision and he could stand up again. The wave of nausea, and the screams, and the rush of rage, subsided.

When he looked at Rey, there was a fine sheen of sweat on her forehead that suggested she, too, was affected, if not as strongly as him. 

“Where do we go now?” Jacen asked.

Rey spun around slowly. “I’m not sure. There should be records, or archives somewhere in here, but it’s a lot larger than I expected.”

“There’s a Jedi library with holocrons. It might still have some of them, if Palpatine didn’t seize or destroy them all. But the fact that this temple still even stands suggests that he didn’t think it worth his time to destroy it when he could just eradicate the Jedi Order by killing them and hunting down the survivors.”

“What’s a holocron?”

“It’s a Jedi artifact that can only be opened with the Force, specifically the Light Side of the Force. Sith holocrons can only be opened with the Dark Side. They contain knowledge, insights, holos of past masters, recordings, messages, even directions.”

“It sounds like a Sith wayfinder, like I used to get to Exegol,” said Rey.

“You had a Sith holocron?”

“I still do. On the Ghost.”

“WHAT?” Jacen gasped. “My Uncle Ezra told me about those! They’re very dangerous! You shouldn’t use them. You’ll be corrupted by the Dark Side!”

“Well, nobody told me that,” Rey snapped. “Master Luke was looking for it, and it was the only way to get to Exegol! It hasn’t hurt me.”

“That’s how they work! They don’t hurt you at first, but they lure you in with the temptation of knowledge, and turn you to the Dark Side before you even realize it.”

“What would you know about holocrons?”

“Because I had my father’s old Jedi holocron for years, before I gave it to Uncle Ezra to use on his mission to the Unknown Regions!”

“What?” Rey stalked towards him, still holding her lit lightsaber aloft. “Why didn’t you say something? That’s exactly what we need and just now you’re telling us that you know how to get to the Unknown Regions?”

Jacen backed up quickly, confused by her sudden anger. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he said, holding up his hands. “I just met you two weeks ago! We’ve barely talked about what it is, exactly, that you’re trying to do besides learn some more Jedi background and maybe try to figure out more about what was going on with Palpatine.”

“You knew I was trying to find out more about the Unknown Regions and Jedi places,” snapped Rey, continuing to stalk towards him. Jacen was alarmed to see a slight yellow gleam in her eyes—or maybe that was just the reflection from her lightsaber. “How could you? How could you not tell me what I needed to know?”

“I don’t have the Jedi holocron anymore! Ezra Bridger has it!”

“Where’s Ezra Bridger?”

“I DON’T KNOW AND THAT’S WHAT I’M TRYING TO FIND OUT!”

“Hey!” Rose shouted out, and both Rey and Jacen spun around, the spell broken.

Rose was crouched down by a data port on the central plinth near one of the archways, with CB-23, who had already plugged in and was beeping and whirring with excitement. 

“SeeBee says we need to go through there—” Rose pointed towards the nearest archway, “—down the hall and to the right to get the Jedi archives. We’ll have to search by hand, though, to see if there’s anything still there. It looks like library catalogue was deleted. But SeeBee is going to try to stay here and see if she can’t reconstruct it. There may be traces further down in the hard drive.” Rose took out a datapad from her shoulder bag and connected it to a port on CB-23’s top. “I’m going to try to help her and see what we can find.”

“Are you okay by yourself?” Jacen asked, looking around. It seemed deserted, and when he reached out with his feelings, as best he could, he only sensed echoes, no living beings. But the weight of history was so heavy here he didn’t trust himself not to be confused.

“Sure,” Rose said, bravely. “There’s just the occasional skittermouse. But I can deal with them! It’s not a big deal!”

Jacen detached his blaster from his belt and tossed it to her, and she caught it. “Just in case,” he said.

“It’s okay,” Rose said, tossing his blaster right back. “I’m not defenseless. I have a lightsaber.” She pulled one out of the pack and ignited the blue blade, and then switched it off just as fast.

“How did you get that?” asked Jacen, completely gobsmacked. 

“It’s from Leia Organa,” Rey said, “and it’s on loan. C’mon, let’s go while it’s still light.”

“When we get back to the flat tonight we are going to have a long conversation about what you haven’t yet told me,” Jacen grumbled.

Rey led the way down the hallway Rose had indicated, and Jacen resisted the impulse to look back at Rose. She seemed completely fine, and if there was anything his mother and Nessa had taught him, it was that competent women did not like overprotective men.

Rey moved fast, but cautiously, checking around corners and occasionally closing her eyes to focus better in the Force. The archive turned out to be something of a disappointment—shelves and shelves as high up as the eye could see, all empty. Rey turned off her lightsaber, since the tall windows here provided more than enough light. 

“It’s so sad,” she murmured, looking up. Her voice echoed throughout the library. “I taught myself to read. I didn’t have many opportunities. I can’t imagine growing up in a place where you had all this knowledge…and then to have all of it destroyed.”

“I know,” Jacen sighed. He frowned down at a marble bust at his feet, one of several statues in the archive that had been toppled or smashed. “I guess these must have been Jedi. Notable ones, if they had their statues in here.”

“Are the echoes bad in here?” Rey asked, peering around.

“Not so bad,” Jacen said slowly. He closed his eyes and focused. “It’s more about peaceful ones. Learning. Inquiry. Calmness. Joy in discovery.”

He smiled as he opened his eyes again. This corner of the temple, at least, was not entirely awash in tragedy. He sensed that few, if any, Jedi had died here.

“Good,” Rey whispered, with a viciousness he didn’t expect. “Somewhere needs to not be sad.”

Jacen found a few smashed holocrons here and there—as if they’d fallen down and been stomped on by boots—and the pieces were too small to try to reconstruct them. Then Rey managed to find one intact one that had somehow been wedged behind some shelves that had collapsed. She carefully pulled it out, using the Force, and floated it free. One side was slightly cracked, but otherwise it looked to be in good shape.

“Beautiful,” said Jacen.

“How is it used?” Rey asked.

“You meditate on it, and it should open to you, if you have the Force,” he said. “The light side of the Force.” 

He reached out and grabbed it, and then nearly dropped it in shock when it started glowing a soft blue light, and the corners of it began separating out as it rose above his outstretched hand.

“You have the Force, that is for sure,” said Rey, smiling at him. 

Jacen exhaled, and the holocron closed again, went dark, and its components reassembled as it fell into his palm.

“You’ll have to teach me how to do that,” Rey said, sounding a bit jealous. “I just have books. Old books. On parchment.”

“We need to work together better, and pool our knowledge.”

“Agreed,” said Rey. She was still smiling, and her shoulders had dropped back down. The tension from earlier was leaving her body. She absentmindedly was rubbing her upper right arm through the black material of her dress, which had—now that Jacen noticed it—extremely baggy and ill-fitting long sleeves she had rolled up at the ends. 

“Should we explore further?” Rey asked, as they stepped back into the hallway. “There might be more things in the Jedi rooms.”

“I doubt it,” said Jacen. “Jedi had few possessions. Anyone who had a lightsaber would have had it with them when Order 66 came through and the Jedi were massacred. There wouldn’t be anything useful in their rooms.”

“What about personal things, things about their families?”

“They were taken away from their families when they were very young, too young to remember.”

“Maybe they were lucky, then,” Rey whispered.

“To never have a family?”

“To never remember what it was like to lose one,” she said. “And the Jedi Order was their new family.”

“It didn’t exactly work like that,” Jacen hedged, remembering stories his mother retold from his father, and things he’d heard from Auntie Ahsoka. 

“Better than being sold into slavery on a scrap heap,” Rey replied. “Better than being cast out from your family because you’re ‘too dark,’ or as punishment for who you are. Better to be protected, by a whole Jedi Order.”

Jacen didn’t argue with her, but he silently thought Rey didn't really understand what a family was, or what it could be. It seemed that on this mission, only Rose really understood what was driving him on this mission, because she understood what it was to seek a family you knew. Exactly what Rey was chasing, he was much less sure, but it seemed to be burning her as much as his own desire to find his lost uncle and aunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted this chapter from Jacen's perspective so we could understand his feelings towards Rose, and regarding Karva. If you thought there was perhaps some reason why Jacen acted so strangely before with Rose when he brought up Starkiller Base, now you know the backstory.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose, feeling a bit awkward and left out of the Force efforts, turns her attention to deconstructing the lightsaber and catching up with an old friend. She accidentally finds herself in a closer and more private situation with Jacen than she intended.
> 
> Earning the Mature rating in this chapter, FYI.

Back in Guafri flat, Rey and Jacen retreated to the larger of the two guest bedrooms to meditate on the Jedi holocron and see what they could learn from it. Rose could eventually hear various recordings coming from it, punctuated occasionally by Rey’s frustrated exclamations and Jacen’s lower, much lower, murmurs. Whatever they were learning from the holocron, it wasn’t necessarily making Rey any happier than she’d been earlier.

Rose remained at the dining table with her toolkit and carefully dismantled Leia’s lightsaber, piece by piece, until she’d successfully retrieved the kyber crystal from its casing and placed it on the table. Now that they had the holocron, she wasn’t sure if they needed the kyber crystal at all, but she needed something to do with her hands. 

CB-23 was back on the Ghost, downloading the material she’d been able to scrape out of the remnants of the Jedi records. Hopefully they could later sort through it and make sense of it.

Just as she successfully reassembled the lightsaber casing, now empty of its crystal, Rose heard her comm link go off; to her delight, it was Torra Doza from the Colossus.

“Hi, Rose!” came the younger girl’s voice, chipper as always. “How are you?”

“Good! I’m on Coruscant right now.”

“You’re kidding!” Torra gasped. “You’re really on Coruscant? You’re so lucky! I’ve wanted to go to Coruscant forever! Tell me all about it!”

“I haven’t seen much of it so far,” Rose admitted. “Mostly just from the window of a shuttle. But it’s absolutely enormous! The whole planet is a city. It’s a little overwhelming. The skies are full of traffic with shuttles and speeders all the time. It’s towers, everywhere, all different styles and shapes, and you can see the old Republic Senate building from where I am—it’s like a dome, on top.”

“Is there a party district? I’ve heard the clubs and bars there are incredible!”

“I’m sure they are, but I don’t think I’ll get to see anything like that. Rey is trying to keep a low profile.” 

“Rey is with you?”

“Yes, we’re on a—a secret mission of sorts,” Rose said, suddenly wondering how much it was even safe to say to her friend. “How is everyone on the Colossus?”

“Good! Kaz just left to take Kel and Elia to Maz on Takodana. You had a good idea about sending them there.”

“Thank you,” said Rose. “I just think that Force-sensitive children need to go somewhere. And they’re so young still. Hopefully they can find a good family somewhere.”

“Yes,” said Torra. “It’s hard to be without a family.” She sounded wistful. “I’m very lucky to have mine back now.”

“How’s Neeku?”

They chatted for a while about all their friends, with Torra giving her updates. Rose enjoyed hearing the latest hijinks on board the Colossus, though Torra’s mention of some problems they’d encountered from a squad of rogue former First Order pilots made her concerned. 

“I can’t believe there’s still so many of them out there, fighting,” Rose sighed. 

“My father said it took years to find the Imperial sympathizers,” Torra reminded her. “And the New Republic still didn’t find all of them, since so many headed to the Unknown Regions. So it will take a while to get everything set right. Don’t worry too much.”

“I don’t know if the decentralized government will be better, or worse,” sighed Rose. She knew the Alliance for Galactic Peace was modeled off the alliances of separatist planets and neutral planets during the Clone Wars, but she didn’t understand galactic politics or know enough about history to understand what that meant. 

“The New Republic was so weak to begin with, they couldn’t stop the First Order when Leia Organa warned them,” Torra said. “A weaker government may not be better. But I have to hope we can build something better in time. All those people who came together at Exegol care about each other! That’s new. That’s a galaxy uniting, and not as an army, but as a protective force. The First Order is on the run. If we can have a new order of Jedi to patrol the galaxy, they can put things right in the future. They’ll be able to solve problems much better than any army!”

“I’m not sure that’s going to happen,” said Rose, looking over her shoulder, checking she could still hear voices from the guest bedroom. In a lower voice she said, “Torra, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I’m not sure it’s so easy to train new Jedi. Or for Rey to lead them.”

“What about your friend Finn? Or others who have the Force? Like Kel and Elia? Can’t they become Jedi, in time?”

“We have to save what we love ourselves,” said Rose. “We can’t wait for people with the Force to do it for us. They’re just people too. They don’t know what to do any more than we do. The Jedi aren’t going to solve all our problems.”

Torra was quiet for a while, and then asked, “Are you having fun?”

“It’s interesting.”

“You need to have fun! Get out there in Coruscant and have some fun! Go to some parties, some bars, some clubs! Don’t let the Jedi make you sad!”

“I’m not sad,” Rose argued. 

“Well, you’re not having fun,” Torra replied, and Rose couldn’t argue with that. Working with SeeBee, crouching in a giant, echoing building that was infested with vermin, dust, and sadness, crumbling to ash, smelling of decay and rot, was not Rose’s idea of a good time.

“Okay,” Rose agreed. “We’ll be here a few days. I promise I’ll make time for some fun.”

“Wonderful!” Torra crowed. “Comm me back and tell me all about it!” 

“I will, I promise! Good-bye Torra!”

“Bye, Rose!”

As she switched off her comm, Rose was startled by TC-84 walking into the room. “Miss Rose?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes?” 

“It is the standard hour for the evening meal. I am afraid that Master Guafri did not leave me with instructions about what to do for your sustenance.”

“That’s okay,” said Rose, seizing an impulse. She jumped up and grabbed a deep purple cloak from a hook by the door. “Is there a speeder available?”

“Yes, Miss Rose. You may find one in the port on the left side of the door outside. Why do you ask?”

Rose felt in her pocket and was glad that she had stashed a credit chip in there earlier today, so that she didn’t have to go back in the room and interrupt Rey and Jacen, who it sounded like were still deep in some sort of conversation, no doubt about important Force things. Well, even ordinary folks like Rose had an important role to play here. 

“If they ask, please tell them I’ve gone to get us dinner,” Rose replied.

“But Miss Rose! You can’t—that is to say—you perhaps should not—”

Rose jumped on the speeder bike and wheeled it around, taking off before she could hear the rest of the fussy droid’s argument. He was as much of a worrywart as General Organa’s old protocol droid, and not nearly as personable, in her opinion.

As the sky turned orange and pink in the sunset, and the lights of the various storefronts and eating establishments glowed in contrast to the gathering dark, Rose was constantly tempted to take her attention off the flow of speeder traffic to take in her surroundings. 

She pulled into a small park where there was a series of booths set up, selling food that smelled delicious. After some consideration of several different options and their prices, Rose decided to get something from several different shops. The prices were higher than she expected—though of course Aunt Z’s dumplings on the Colossus would be cheaper than the ones in the former capital city—and it depleted her credits more than she’d expected, so she had to forgo the tempting-looking spice cake for dessert. Rose only hoped she’d managed to purchase enough food to feed Rey, who, true to her scavenger background, had always had a hearty appetite on the Resistance base.

She had some difficulty getting the various boxes and containers into the basket on the back of the speeder, and her heart was in her throat every time she accelerated or stopped, but everything stayed in place. She managed to find her way back to the Guafri flat with only a few wrong turns, though every time she did, it led to yet another neighborhood Rose wanted to explore. Not far from the flat was what seemed like an entire colony of Rodians. Closer to the park with the food booths was a street with a heavy concentration of Mon Cala, and several establishments advertising themselves as full-immersion spas replicating the salinity levels of their home planet. At one point Rose thought she glimpsed a garment district. She desperately wanted to revisit it, and check out the bolts of shimmersilk and trimmings in the windows. 

After years of living in mechanics’ jumpsuits and nothing but the most practical outfits, Rose was ready for some finery, some color, some glamor and sparkle to feast her eyes on, even if she couldn’t possibly afford to own it or wear it.

Back at the flat, it was nearly dark, and Rose was surprised to see Jacen standing in the doorway, lit from behind by the lights of flat. “Where were you?” he asked.

She couldn’t see his face, and Rose wasn’t sure what his voice held. Concern? Confusion? She guided the speeder into its port.

“I was getting dinner. TeeSee was supposed to tell you.”

“He said what you were doing, not where you were going,” Jacen replied, advancing on her. She still couldn’t see his face in the dark, with all the light coming from behind him and shining directly into her eyes. 

“Rose, you shouldn’t have gone alone. You don’t know Coruscant.”

“I’m not a child. I can take care of myself.” Rose busied herself with unhooking the carrying basket from the back of the speeder, only to have Jacen’s hands suddenly around hers, unfastening it effortlessly and lifting it up.

“Oh,” she said softly. “Thank you.” Rose hoped he couldn’t hear her heart beating in her very fingertips at that moment.

“Thank you, for getting dinner,” said Jacen. So low. His voice was so low. He was standing very close to her.

Irrationally, Rose had a sudden feeling he wanted to kiss her, but then he moved back, carrying the basket into the flat. She swallowed hard and said nothing as she followed him.

“Miss Rose!” cried out TC-84, waving its arms in alarm. “I tried to tell you! You took Mistress Karva’s cloak!”

“I’m so sorry!” Rose said. “I didn’t even think about it.” She quickly undid the fastenings at her throat.

Jacen glanced over at her as he carried the basket to the dining table, his face so calm and neutral that it could only be intentional. “I think it’s fine, TeeSee,” he said calmly. “Karva isn’t here to wear it any more, and it is a good cloak. It’s okay that Rose borrowed it.”

“Well, Master Syndulla, I supposed you are correct that technically its original owner will not be wearing the cloak again, but I do think that—”

“That smells delicious!” said Rey, beaming, as she entered the main room. She, at least, seemed in better spirits than she was before the holocron session. Her hair was down and still damp from the ’fresher, and she was now dressed in some casual tan sleepwear. “What did you get?”

“Something of everything,” said Rose, unpacking the containers onto the table while Jacen got plates from the kitchenette. “Dumplings…some fritters…buckwheat noodles with nerf nuggets…there’s some kodari-rice with veg…and some ribs, too.”

Rey stuck her hand in one of the smaller boxes and pulled out a fritter, then popped it straight into her mouth. “Amazing. Ohhhh. Delicious. Salty…savory…mmmhm.” A little sauce dribbled down her chin as she closed her eyes in bliss.

Rose and Jacen’s eyes met, and they grinned simultaneously, and then looked away just as quickly. Rey’s ridiculous passion for food was hard not to mock, but Rose didn’t want to make her friend feel self-conscious.

“Here are some drinks,” said TC-84, coming out of the small kitchenette area carrying three cups on a small tray. “It’s the last of the melioorun juice.”

The rest of the dinner was in companionable silence, as they passed around the containers and used the disposable cutlery that Rose had grabbed at the various booths. 

They all three laughed at that, and then conversation turned to more innocuous topics, with Rey enthusiastically recounting the plot of all the Nerfherder and the Princess episodes that Rose had shown her, and propounding all kinds of crazy theories for what would happen later in the third season. Rose of course knew exactly how much of this speculation was wildly off-base, since she was well into the fourth season, currently on hiatus. She enjoyed hearing Rey’s theories nevertheless, and Jacen egged her on, his complete ignorance of the holodrama not in the least preventing him from enjoying Rey’s increasingly far-fetched suggestions.

To Rose’s relief, there was enough food, with even a few dumplings left over. She looked over at Rey and noticed that she was starting to yawn. 

“It’s getting late,” said Jacen, catching Rose’s eye. “I think we all need some rest. We can tell you more about what we figured out from the holocron tomorrow, after we’ve put more of the pieces together.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Rey, rubbing her eyes.

“I’ll sleep on the Ghost,” said Jacen. 

“No, we’ve discussed this,” Rose argued. “I’ll share the big bed with Rey. It’s fine. Nobody needs to sleep on the ship.”

“We can’t really bring the porgs into the flat,” Jacen argued. “Guafri has allergies. Someone should stay on the ship with the porgs, just to be sure.”

“I would rather be on the Ghost,” said Rey quickly. “I like having a room by myself. I don’t always sleep well.”

“Oh,” said Rose. 

“Also I’ve been sleeping better with Shmi,” Rey added. “I’d rather sleep on the Ghost. I’m not…used to such soft beds.” 

When she exited—practically running out the door—Rose felt like a complete jerk. 

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that,” said Rose, staring out the door. “Of course. She doesn’t want to share a bed with me.”

“It’s not about you,” Jacen said.

“I know that,” said Rose. She started piling the empty boxes together, tidying up and looking around for the mini-trash compactor. “I guess I was just looking forward to having someone else to sleep with again. I mean—no—like my sister—I mean, Paige and I used to sometimes share—I don’t mean ‘sleep with’ like that—”

“I understand,” Jacen said with a gentle smile. “You can have the bigger bed.”

“No, no, it’s too big for just me,” Rose said hastily. “You’re taller. You should have the bigger bed.”

Jacen stood in the middle of the room, thinking a moment. “Okay,” he said at last.

“Well, erm. You can take the fresher first,” said Rose, gesturing ahead. “You were in all the dirt and cobwebs today.”

Jacen grinned, his eyes crinkling up at the corners, as he smoothed down his green hair. “Is that your way of saying I stink?”

“No, no!” laughed Rose. “Of course not. You smell fine! I mean—I mean—”

They just stood there, looking at each other. Something about the way Jacen was looking at her made Rose suddenly feel not so foolish, not so awkward.

“I’ll, erm, go first then,” said Jacen. His voice sounded a bit rough, as if he had a cough. “You make a good point.”

Rose nodded and stood awkwardly in the middle of the main living area while Jacen turned and headed down the hall to the guest wing. 

TC-84 had informed them earlier he was going to shut down for the evening in the family’s quarters, so Rose cleared away the remnants of their dinner by herself. She headed onto the Ghost to take the remaining dumplings up to the porgs. Rose still wasn’t exactly sure what porgs ate, but so far they hadn’t turned up their noses at anything. She left Tran, Shmi, and Ackie in the lounge on the Ghost, gulping down the remaining dumplings and taking turns splashing around, and drinking, the water she poured into a shallow bowl. 

Rey was already in her bunk, with the door shut. Rose didn’t bother her when she went into her own room to grab a bundle of clothes and toiletries to take back into the Guafri flat. She tried not to feel self-conscious as she contemplated being alone in the flat—besides TC-84, of course—with Jacen, but she couldn’t pretend that it was coincidence she made sure to select her light-blue pajamas, the only flattering sleepwear she owned. 

After the terrible impression she’d made the other day with her porg-induced bed-head, Rose wanted to try to look a bit more appealing tomorrow morning.

When she re-entered the Guafri flat, Rose dimmed the lights in the central living area and headed down the hallway to the guest quarters. Lost in her own thoughts, she shrieked with surprise when she ran right into Jacen Syndulla, clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist.

“ACK!” she cried out as she collided with the strong, fit, male chest that suddenly swam into view. She nearly tripped over her own feet trying to step back and Jacen grabbed her arm to keep her from falling over.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” he said.

“No, no, it’s me, I should have looked, I mean, looked where I was going,” Rose babbled. In the dim light sliding out from the partially-closed door to the larger bedroom, and the dimmed half-light spilling behind her from the central living area of the flat, she could just see his face.

For the second time that night, Rose thought for a moment they were going to kiss. But she pulled herself back—both physically and emotionally—and started talking, and somehow found herself in the second, smaller bedroom before she even knew what had happened. 

Rose shut the door and leaned against it, taking deep breaths. Ever since what had happened between her and Finn on Crait, and how it had led nowhere afterwards, she was determined not to misread signals, not to misinterpret friendship and proximity as mutual attraction.

But she’d have to be blind, deaf, and unable to smell that intoxicating blend of soap and musky sandalwood not to feel something for Jacen Syndulla, who was so open, so decent, so gutsy and up for adventure, so eager to learn more about the Force, so loyal to them very quickly. Just the way he spoke about his family was enough to tug on her heartstrings.

Maybe, Rose allowed herself. Maybe she wasn’t imagining things, but Jacen was back in a flat he’d been in before with his beloved. Perhaps even back in the same bed he’d been in before…oh. Maybe that was why he’d wanted to sleep on the Ghost.

Rapidly exiting the warm, dreamy state she’d been luxuriating in, just moments before, Rose headed to the ‘fresher, noting that now Jacen’s door was firmly, completely closed. She spent the night tossing and turning, trying not to think about the glamorous, beautiful Karva—who based on the length of the cloak had probably been a good bit taller than her—and Jacen’s tempting, solid, warm chest, and the slight glimpse of hair she’d gotten just above where the towel was slung over his hips.

At a certain point, she had to simply give into temptation—and the relief of not having any porgs watching her—and take care of her built-up sexual frustration for herself before she could finally, exhausted and slightly sticky, fall asleep. Normally Rose liked to think about one of the leads from the Nerfherder and the Princess, or the radar technician from D’Qar and her goofy smile, or sometimes, when she was really feeling down on herself, imagine Finn. Not tonight, though. If she touched herself while thinking of Jacen’s chest, and the way he grabbed her arm, and how warm and close he was, well, that was something she’d keep between herself and the pillow she used to muffle the whimpers she always made.

It was only after she'd finished--for the third time in a quick succession--that she thought to wonder if Jacen could somehow hear her, or feel her, through the Force, but then she pushed that idea aside. Rey had told her that she couldn't read other people's minds or emotions, excepting only Ben through the Force bond. Surely Jacen wouldn't be able to tell either. Rose wasn't sure if that left her feeling relieved, or disappointed, as she drifted off.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose has a challenging morning, as she confronts Rey about still being in love with Ben Solo. Progress is made in learning about the world between worlds, but Rey disagrees with Rose and Jacen about using the Sith holocron to get more information. The three of them have a fight, as Rey's emotions--and Force powers--again start to get out of control, and heightened emotions lead to things said in the heat of anger that Rose afterwards regrets. 
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has commented or left kudos! Work has gotten VERY busy again, but the comments have really helped to keep me motivated to keep writing and posting! I love reading your ideas and responses, and they definitely inform how I'm revising and writing more material!

The next morning, Rose was up early, taking another quick shower in an effort to make herself feel more put together. So much for showing off the cute pajamas. 

Her mind kept wandering to Jacen’s behavior last night, and how she was starting to feel this attraction, this pull between them. It seemed mutual. Last night she’d felt overwhelmed by her attraction, but in the cold glare of the overhead lights in the ‘fresher, Rose felt calmer, more distant from her roiling emotions and the adrenaline rush of attraction. As she twisted up her damp hair into loose braids, so that she’d have a nice wave when they dried, Rose could at least try to think analytically about the dynamic between them.

To some extent, Jacen made more sense now that she saw how being back on Coruscant, and in this flat, was obviously stirring up a lot of memories for him. Rose remembered how on the Ghost, he’d drawn away from her when he’d started talking about Starkiller Base, and yesterday he’d admitted that he’d loved Karva. Before she’d attributed Jacen’s compassion towards her on the Ghost when she was missing Paige to his empathy and kindness, but now, in exactly the way she felt when she’d finally gotten a circuit to snap correctly into place, Rose could recognize that Jacen was responding out of a shared experience with grief. Of course he knew how she felt, had drawn it out of her, fixed her hot cocoa, talked to her. Rose knew full well how it could take a long time to put a loss like that, a love like that, in its place, to respect it, to see it, but eventually to not have it dominate entire days, weeks, or hours, and yet it would always come back.

Rose scrubbed at her face in embarrassment. Jacen had been so kind to her, and what had she done? Used his dead girlfriend’s cloak without a second thought, said nothing to him in sympathy for what he must be feeling, and practically bowled him over in the hallway when he stood there just out of the fresher. She was an idiot.

Today, she’d be more considerate of his feelings, Rose vowed. 

She headed out into the main common room and was surprised to find Rey there, unloading the speeder basket with a large takeaway container similar to the one that Rose had brought back last night, and it smelled heavenly.

“What’s that?” 

“Hot space waffles!” Rey said, as she opened the box with a flourish.

“WHAT?” Rose gasped, hurrying over. “I love those! Aunt Z would make them sometimes on the Colossus! I wonder if these are as good?”

“Dig in, breakfast is my treat,” said Rey.

“So,” said Rose, keeping her voice low in case Jacen was about to walk in on them, “I have to ask. Have you explained to Jacen about Ben?”

“Huh?”

“About Ben Solo.”

“What about Ben?”

“That you’re trying to find him. That you think he somehow survived, and can connect with you. That you’re in love with the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, who is ALSO Kylo Ren.”

“Shhhh!” Rey hissed. “No, no I have not.”

“You need to,” Rose insisted. “He deserves to know the full story.”

Rey got that stubborn, mulish look on her face and crossed her arms. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“Right,” said Rose. “Because if he knew you were chasing the former Supreme Leader of the First Order, the organization that killed Karva Guafri, he wouldn’t exactly want to fly you around anymore.”

“Exactly,” said Rey. “I don’t expect anyone to be okay with this. The First Order was horrible. Why would I want to save its leader? Why would I even want to understand him, or Palpatine’s history?” She hugged her arms even tighter. “But I need to understand myself, and Ben is as much part of me as my parents.”

Rose put a hand on her arm. “Rey. You’re wearing Ben Solo’s old sweater as a dress again today. You’re still in love with him.”

Rey said nothing, just slid down in her seat and hid her face in her hands. She wasn’t very good at putting words to her feelings, especially softer feelings.

“You’re going to make decisions out of that love,” said Rose, as gently as she could. “And those decisions might not be you’d do if you were really just looking for information out of pure curiosity. You don’t want Jacen to learn everything that way, when you’re doing something that makes no sense except that you did it out of love.”

“How can I explain it?” asked Rey, still hidden behind her hands. “I barely understand it myself. It’s a Force bond. We’re a dyad. Once in a thousand generations. How can anyone understand?”

“I understood,” Rose said softly. “And I don’t have the Force.”

“True,” Rey said, dropping her hands and looking at her earnestly. “But you knew Leia. And Chewie. So I think that helped, probably, since they loved him when he was Ben Solo, and they wanted him to come back. And…if I had been in my right mind that night, I wouldn’t have spilled everything to you, but I just needed, so much, to tell someone what I was going through.” Rey smiled sadly. “Besides, you knew me. As much as anyone on the base did, you already knew me.”

“True,” Rose admitted, reaching out and rubbing Rey's back in an instinctive gesture of comfort. “I think anyone could understand, though. Once they knew the whole story, that is. I think you can make Jacen see your point of view.”

Rey shrugged, looking unconvinced. She turned instead to the waffles, grabbing one and shoving it her mouth because, like most things, she treated waffles as finger food.

“Greetings,” said TC-84. Rose jumped slightly, startled by his sudden appearance from the family quarters. “Good morning, Miss Rey, Miss Rose. Would you like some caf?”

“Yes please,” said Rose. The protocol droid headed into the kitchenette and began preparing it, clinking around the mugs loudly.

“I’m not used to having a protocol droid making caf,” Rey muttered around a bite of waffle. 

“Do you like it?”

“Caf? Yes. A droid helping me, waiting on me? Maybe. It’s so new I can’t decide.”

“Me neither,” Rose admitted. 

“Here’s your caf!” announced TC-84, walking in with a tray of steaming mugs and placing two on the table. “I will just bring Master Jacen his caf in bed in his room. He prefers to wake up that way. He likes his caf in bed, and a leisurely morning.” The droid pattered down the hallway, clearly self-satisfied with his successful anticipation of his guest’s needs.

Rose focused on cutting her triangular waffles into smaller pieces, while her eyes unexpectedly swam and she had to blink quickly. Against her will, Rose immediately constructed in her mind a mental picture of Jacen, in the enormous soft-looking bed in the larger guest room, shirtless, sipping coffee next to a woman in lingerie, who looked just like the female rival in Nerfherder and the Princess. Then she felt even worse, because here she was being jealous of a dead Twi’lek who had never done a thing to hurt her.

“SeeBee told me this morning she’s sorted through the data from the Jedi temple,” Rey announced, when she’d finished sucking syrup residue off her fingers. “So we can look at that once we’re finished breakfast.”

“Excellent,” said Rose. “I got the kyber crystal out of General Organa’s lightsaber last night.” She jerked her head over to the small bundle on the side table. “I put the lightsaber back together without it, because that way we wouldn’t lose any of the little pieces by accident.”

“Good thinking,” said Rey, and she jumped up and headed to the kitchenette, where she washed her hands. “Thank you.” 

Rose was rewarded with one of Rey’s rare full smiles, as she crossed over to the bundle and gently unwrapped it, then lifted the kyber crystal to up to the sun streaming in through the transparisteel. Rey turning it this way and that, watching its reflection. 

“It really concentrates the light,” said Rey, looking at it closely. 

“Be careful you don’t accidentally set something on fire,” Rose warned, moving the paper box out of the way quickly of a focused beam from the crystal. It was hot to the touch already, from just a few seconds of the concentrated light from the crystal.

“Mmmhmm,” Rey replied, then cupped her hands around the crystal, staring at it intently as if it could talk to her. Perhaps it could; Rose didn’t know much about how kyber crystals interacted with the Force.

TC-84 bustled back into the room, Jacen at his heels. “Really, Master Syndulla, how was I supposed to know you no longer wanted to take caf in your room, as you did when you stayed here before—” 

“Thank you TeeSee,” Jacen interrupted loudly and Rose ducked her head and tried not to wince at the mental image of Jacen slowly savoring a cup of caf in bed next to a topless, gorgeous Twi'lek woman who, again, looked just like the protagonist's romantic rival on the Nerfherder and the Princess. The fact that she'd now seen Jacen's bare chest unfortunately made the image far too vivid in her mind.

Rose focused on finishing her waffle, being careful not to drip syrup down her face, but greeted him politely. She heard Rey talking to Jacen about something--it had to do with the kyber crystal--but Rose was so intent on gulping down the last of her caf and finishing breakfast none of it really registered. As soon as she was done, Rose hurried out to the Ghost to get CB-23. She just wanted to get started on that data, she told herself. She was being very responsible.

The rest of the morning was spent in the Guafri flat, working on their projects. Rose sat on the floor next to CB-23, her back against the low couch, reviewing the Jedi temple information on a datapad. Rey and Jacen continued to work on the Jedi holocron in the main room, listening to some less-crucial recordings and then trying to piece together the larger theory of Force vergences, which to Rose’s ears—with her half-attention—sounded like just places of concentrations in the Force, not necessarily anything special or even spatial. 

Then, Rey suggested they use the Jedi holocron in conjunction with the Sith wayfinder—or rather, Sith holocron—to get more information. 

“Absolutely not,” Jacen said, standing up and pacing. He sounded more decisive, and angrier, than Rose had yet heard from him. “My Uncle Ezra told me about doing that, and how dangerous it was. It led him to the Dark Side, and endangered everyone he cared about.”

“I know that there’s a danger,” said Rey, gritting her teeth. “But we still need more information! The map isn’t enough. It’s only a start.”

“We need to wait and see what’s in those Jedi archives!” Jacen snapped.

“There still might not be anything!” cried Rey. “This is taking forever! And the one holocron entry that seemed most useful just was a bunch of gibberish!”

“Gibberish?” asked Rose.

“Yes!” cried Rey. “It was nonsense! It was a little green creature saying a bunch of things that sounded like…like nonsense. It wasn’t even Basic.”

“Perhaps I can be of help,” TC-84 offered. “I am fluent in over two million forms of communication.”

“Only two million?” Rose asked in surprise, thinking about General Organa’s protocol droid. “Not more?”

TC-84 jerked back, astonished. “Miss Rose! I assure you, no biological entity would have access to a comparable amount of languages. I have never heard any complaints about my range of language skills. Indeed, Master Guafri has ensured that I am up-to-date on the latest slang terms on the hundred most populated worlds, as well as smuggler’s cant, Huttese swear words, Imperial codes, Gungan lullabies, Twi’lek endearments, Shryiiwook drinking songs—”

“Yes, yes,” Rose rushed, holding up her hands. “I was just amazed it was so many. I’m impressed, honestly I am!”

“TC-84 has a point,” said Jacen. “Let’s see if you can make sense of this recording.” 

He sat back on the floor cross-legged, placed his hands on his knees, and took a deep breath as he straightened his spine and close his eyes. Rose’s eyes traced the lines of his strong arms and broad shoulders—clear even through the loose, comfortable-looking dark green clothing he wore today—and dwelled, yet again, on those unique green-tipped ears, wondering if a human would know just how to stroke them the way he liked, as well as a Twi’lek who knew their own lekku could figure out—

“Good,” Rey breathed, her voice full of admiration, taking Rose out of her covert examination of Jacen’s body. The holocron had resumed glowing and hovering in air, opening. 

A recording began with, as Rey said, a small green creature with large ears and a cane speaking. Rose immediately understood why they’d dismissed this as nonsense, but it wasn’t.

“It’s backwards,” Rose and TC-84 said at the exact same time.

“What?” Jacen said, opening his eyes. The holocron immediately dropped down and closed, and he briefly cursed under his breath.

“You can do it again,” Rey said encouragingly. “That was the first time you opened it on your own! It will take a while to perfect your concentration.”

Jacen wiped a hand across his forehead, where little beads of sweat had suddenly popped out. “You do it,” he replied. “I need more practice before I can hold it open by myself."

Rey sank down on her knees and immediately fell into meditation, and holocron opened again to the same recording. TC-84 listened intently, waiting until the recording began looping again. Once the short message had played twice, Rey exhaled and the holocron closed again, shutting off and falling back the short distance to the carpet.

“The recording was made in Basic, and then reversed,” TC-84 explained. “That’s why it sounded so strange to you. I will now translate for you: ‘There is a place that the legends of the Prime Jedi tell us about. It is found in the oldest records. This place is not a place. It is between. It connects all time and space. We can commune with each other there. It is apart from life and death, but it connects to all the living Force. The cosmic Force creates it. We do not know all the secrets of this place, and we should perhaps not seek it out. If the Sith were to discover this realm, it might endanger the balance of the Force. It has been hundreds of years since any Jedi entered this realm, and I am the last one in the Order who remembers it. But I am leaving this recording because some record must be left.’”

“Wow,” said Jacen. “TeeSee, that was excellent!”

“That is just a translation,” TC-84 said, straightening up even further (if that was possible). “But it was difficult since the speaker does not always use standard word order in Basic. However, I am sure it is accurate.”

“Thank you,” Rose said to the droid. 

“I am very happy to be of service,” said TC-84. “Now if you will all excuse me, I have to go monitor comms for Master Guafri and forward the relevant messages to him.”

“Of course, TeeSee,” said Jacen. He turned to CB-23. “Did you get that message?”

CB-23 chirped in the affirmative. Yes, she’d recorded TC-84’s translation, as well as the original, in her databanks.

“There’s so many secrets in this holocron that we still have to unlock,” said Rey, picking it up and studying it again. She glanced up at Jacen, her chin set in determination. “That’s why I still think we need to pair it with the Sith holocron and make sure we’ve gotten everything from it.”

“No, aren’t you listening to me?” hissed Jacen. “We can’t! It’s too dangerous!”

“I’ll just do it on my own, then.”

“I won’t let you,” Jacen snapped. “And you know you can’t do it without me. I told you, the Sith holocrons only fully respond to two Force users. You have to work together with a partner.”

“I can try on my own and see what happens!”

“That’s even more dangerous! Rey, you’re too important to do something this reckless! Rose, tell her not to endanger herself!”

“Rose, stay out of it,” Rey snapped, not even sparing the other woman a glance as she glared down at Jacen. “This is Force business.”

“Exactly, Force business, not Jedi business! Jedi wouldn’t mess around with Sith holocrons.”

“You told me your Uncle Ezra did, and he was a Jedi!”

“And it was a MISTAKE!” Jacen yelped.

At this point, CB-23 started drifting towards the ceiling, as did several other objects in the room, including the kyber crystal that Rey had left out on the small side table.

“Stop it!” Rose yelped, but neither of them listened to her. She reached over and snagged the crystal, which was drifting towards the ceiling faster than anything else. 

Oblivious to how Rey was making things float again with her emotions, Jacen forged on, warning her, “Jedi with more training than you have been corrupted by the Dark Side.”

“We won’t go to the Dark Side,” Rey retorted. “We just want information.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you! It starts with you THINKING there isn’t any danger. You use a Sith holocron thinking you have control, but that desire for control is the very thing that seduces you to the Dark Side.”

“Please stop!” Rose cried out, trying to coral CB-23, who was hovering above the carpet and beeping in agitation as she rose through the air.

“I’ve gone to the Dark Side before,” Rey argued. “I know what’s there. I’m not afraid of it.”

“You should be!”

By now, CB-23’s main optical sensor was level with Rose’s head, and she was grabbing CB-23’s base as if that would prevent the alarmed droid from floating up to the ceiling. Now she was starting to fear that she'd become airborne along with the rollie.

"You should be VERY afraid!" Jacen reiterated.

“Why?” Rey demanded. “Why? Why should I be afraid? Because the Jedi said so? If they were so great, why couldn’t they stop the Empire from rising? Why didn’t they know Chancellor Palpatine was actually a Sith lord? Why couldn’t they stop Darth Sidious?”

“I don’t know!” Jacen hollered. “I wasn’t there!”

“Exactly!” Rey yelled, turning away from him and stalking towards the windows. “Nobody knows! We have to find out. What did the Sith know? Did they learn about this world between worlds? We need answers, and we need to use EVERY tool at our disposal to GET THOSE ANSWERS NOW!"

"Not at the risk of losing you to the Dark Side!" 

“The Jedi didn’t completely understand the Force,” Rey argued. “They were too afraid of the Dark. They didn’t know how to handle desire, or attachment. They didn’t have all the answers.”

“That sounds like Dark Side thinking,” Jacen said, now sounding more scared than angry. He walked over to Rey and nearly took her hand, but for some reason thought better of it and dropped his arm. He took a deep breath. “Please. I’m trying to tell you, you don’t know the dangers. Those holocrons can confuse you, deceive you, prey upon your darkest desires.”

Rey took a deep breath, suddenly looking over to left side of her, seeming to focus on something that wasn't there. Even as she struggled to hang on to CB-23--who was now giving off a low whine of alarm--Rose noticed that Rey was rubbing her arm again, in the same place where the scar from the battle with Snoke's guards had started to resurface.

"Okay," said Rey quietly. "Okay. I understand. You don't want me to get hurt." She hung her head and her shoulders slumped down. "I guess I can't get too impatient and rush this."

Everything that was hovering abruptly fell to the ground with a plonk. Rose nearly fell over as CB-23 abruptly regained her normal weight and hurtled to the ground, but as Rose staggered she managed not to drop the ball droid, who beeped happily when she was returned to the carpet again.

“Can we first find out what the Jedi knew?” squeaked Rose. “We have the holocron and the temple records…” 

Rey stared out the transparisteel window as Rose held her breath. 

She knew exactly how dark Rey’s desires were, for how else could one describe the desire to bring back the former Supreme Leader, while the galaxy was in shambles and the First Order was far from being completely gone? Even motivated by love, Rey’s quest would be dangerous if complete, wrong and deeply unnatural if it were possible. The fact that she was even considering using a Sith holocron was just more confirmation that Rey was increasingly being seduced by the Dark Side in her desperation to reconnect with Ben Solo.

“The Jedi didn't know everything,” Rey choked out. “The Jedi had to end. Master Luke told me that when we were on Ahch-to. They couldn’t stop Darth Sidious at the height of their power. They didn’t know that the Supreme Chancellor of the Senate was a Sith Lord. Then Luke Skywalker couldn’t sense that Emperor Palpatine was back, that he’d cheated death itself.” She whirled around from the window. 

“Please, don’t you see?” she said, speaking as much to Rose as to Jacen. “I think that’s how the Emperor could cheat death itself. He accessed this world between, this realm that the Jedi on the holocron warned us that the Sith must not learn about. We need to learn about it too, or else there’s nothing to stop him from coming back again. Understanding this in-between place, between life and death, that's the key to understanding everything. To making sure we never have to fight Palpatine again and that he can never hurt anyone or manipulate anyone ever again.”

“The dead can’t return,” Rose said, the words rising from her lips like they were being ripped out of her. “If they could, Paige would be here. My parents. My grandmother.” Rose’s hand drifted up to her Otomok medallion. “If there was any way to be with me, they would. They loved me.”

She was horrified to realize her eyes were filling with tears, and they were sliding down her face faster than she could wipe them away.

“I’m sure they loved you,” said Jacen.

“But they didn’t have the Force, and Force knowledge,” said Rey, advancing towards Rose. “Don’t you see? Emperor Palpatine had something that most people don’t. That's what makes it possible. That's what we have to explore.” Her eyes were bright, fevered with a passion bordering on frenzy.

“Having the Force doesn’t make you more special than the rest of us," Rose snapped. "It doesn’t mean you’re able to cheat death!” 

“Except somehow the Emperor DID!” Rey yelled. 

“You just want magical powers so you don’t have to get hurt again,” Rose snapped.

“Kriff, Rose!” said Jacen, looking at her with shock.

“I spent my whole life hurting!” Rey cried out. "I deserve to be happy! There has to be a way! There MUST be! And I'm going to find it. I’ve felt death. I’ve died. I died on Exegol. I died and he brought me back! It's real! I experienced it, and I need to understand it. You CAN use the Force to cheat death."

“If that was all it took, Jacen’s father would have stayed with his family instead of dying!" shouted Rose. "Sometimes the people we love just don't come back, and you can't think you're more important than the rest of us who lost people too!"

Jacen and Rey both stared at Rose in shock. Rose couldn't believe that had come out of her mouth, and the three of them all stared at each other in silence for a long time. Finally, Rey's face crumpled into tears, and she ran out of the flat.

Rose finally found her voice again, looking up at Jacen's horrified face. His disappointment was plain to see.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Rose said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that about your father.”

Jacen looked at her grimly. “No. You shouldn’t have."

He stalked off towards the guest quarters and just barely did not slam his bedroom door.

Rose looked down at CB-23, who tilted her head back and made sympathetic noises, but then rolled away, heading after Rey to the Ghost. 

"Even the droid thinks I failed at being a human," Rose muttered to herself, staring out the window at the spectacular, spectacular view that now did nothing for her.

Rose finally went into her room and retrieved the small stash of Gatalentan tea she'd brought from Colossus. She made herself a mug sipped it very, very slowly until her chrono showed that a half hour had passed. Neither of the other two had returned to the main room.

Rose headed down the hallway and knocked at Jacen’s door. “I really am sorry,” she said through the closed door. “I had no right to say that. I got upset, and I was trying to make a point to Rey, but you don’t deserve to be used as a pawn.”

Jacen opened the door so abruptly that Rose jumped. “It’s okay,” he said, looking far calmer than she expected. “It’s my fault too. I get…very affected by others’ emotions.”

“Oh?” said Rose.

“Yes," he said, offering her a sheepish smile. "It has to do with being Force sensitive. I can sense emotions a lot stronger than most Force users. Even emotions and feelings from the past, especially if they were heightened, I can sometimes pick up on. You and Rey were both…extremely emotional. So I was getting that second-hand, as it was, in addition to disagreeing with Rey.”

“I guess we pushed each other’s buttons,” Rose admitted warily. She didn’t want to say too much and accidentally reveal what Rey wasn’t telling Jacen. 

“I could see that.”

“Wait,” said Rose, something just catching up in her brain. “Can you pick up on all emotions?”

“Not all, no! It’s not like I’m clairvoyant or something. Just sometimes if it was strong." Jacen ran his fingers through his hair again and shrugged sheepishly, a familiar gesture that Rose was finding more and more endearing. "And I was upset too just then, and it was reinforced a little bit too much.” “I shouldn’t have been so short with you. I know you didn’t mean any harm, and it’s not like my father dying is some kind of secret.”

Rose found herself taking a few steps back, cheeks flushing as she thought of her late-night masturbation session the day before. Could he sense that? Feel that? Could he pick up on lust as easily as other emotions? 

Was he aware right now of she was flushing, her skin hot, and her very fingertips tingling with an itch to stroke just the edge, just the tip of his ears, to see if the green tinge was indeed a sign that he'd inherited the sensitivity of Twi'lek lekku in his ears? Could he see how she was struggling not to let her eyes dwell too long on those tempting lips, and that strong chin, with its endearing dimple right in the middle? Did he understand how his eyes, the color of the sea, were pulling her in right now, drowning her, and making her feel at the same time that perhaps only being able to take shallow breaths, feeling overwhelmed, also led to her feeling more alive than she'd felt in years?

“Would you like to grab some lunch?” Jacen asked. “I know a restaurant not far from here that makes a delicious ronto wrap.”

“Okay,” said Rose, unprepared for his sudden change in topic. “Should we get Rey?”

“You can ask her,” he said. “If you want. But I think she may need more time to cool down.”

Rose took a moment and then, with a pang since she knew it was partly out of selfish desires she didn't want to examine too closely, made her decision. "We can get lunch ourselves. Give Rey more time to cool down."

"Okay," said Jacen, leading the way back into the central living area. He took down Karva's cloak from the hook by the door. "Here," he said. "It can get windy on the speeder."

Rose put it on and hoped she wasn't really blushing as much as she felt like she was.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shaken by the fight, Rose and Jacen go for lunch together in Coruscant while Rey holes up in the Ghost. Rose's attraction to Jacen only increases, but she's getting some mixed signals. At the same time, Rose has to worry about what someone like Jacen who fought against the First Order might think of the last Jedi still being in love with the former Supreme Leader, knowledge that weighs heavily on her. Their collective pursuit of knowledge about the World Between Worlds, and explanation for how the Emperor survived, starts to yield some potential answers and next steps.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has commented or sent kudos. They're VERY motivating!

As they whipped through the streets of Coruscant, countless levels up from the ground, Rose was a bit afraid she was going to pass out on the speeder. Oh, it wasn’t that Jacen’s was a bad driver. Far from it, in fact; he was an excellent driver.

No, it was that wrapping her arms around him to steady herself, feeling his torso under her hands—and having seen how muscled and broad he was, an image she was still trying to banish from her head—and having her thighs right up close to the back of his legs, and feeling the heat of his back when she leaned into him, was enough to make it hard to breathe. Rose tried not to focus too much on Jacen’s scent, which was a mixture of his soap, that smelled of the forest after a rain, all clean and a bit peaty and minty, and something else. Something manly and a bit sweaty and warm. He was wearing his dark green tunic and pants again, without the extra layers and wrappings he’d used on Tatooine. 

Rose had rarely felt so ordinary, sitting behind him in a brown jumpsuit left over from the war, acutely aware of how she was soft and curvy and not at all elegant, kind and overeager and perpetually grease-stained, or as now, sporting a few tiny burns on her pinky finger from where the mini-blowtorch she’d used to help her dismantle General Organa’s lightsaber had stung her, and with sore arms from having held on so tight to a frantic, floating CB-23 earlier.

But when they pulled into a docking spot outside a little restaurant, which advertised the ronto wraps he’d promised her, Jacen’s smile at Rose when he held out his hand to help her off the speeder suggested that he saw things very differently than she did. He grinned at her, his blue eyes flashing and those little adorable crinkles at the corners, as if she was anything but ordinary.

Jacen ordered the ronto wrap, but Rose opted for a soup that, at least by smell wafting from the kettle, reminded her of a soup dish her mother used to make on Hays Minor. 

“You know what,” Rose said, as they were waiting for their meals, “I don’t want to go straight back to the flat. I’d like to see a little more of the area. Can we go somewhere to eat instead? A park or something?”

Jacen glanced up at the sky. It was clear, but not as pleasant a day as yesterday, when they had headed to the Jedi temple under a sky as perfect as his eyes. 

“Well, according to the forecast, it shouldn’t rain until much later this afternoon,” Jacen mused. “I know of a little park not far from the flat, and it has tables and shelter. Even if it does rain, we will be protected.”

“Excellent,” said Rose, a smile blossoming on her face. 

After they picked up their food and drinks, Jacen turned the speeder back towards the Guafri flat, but detoured down a street Rose had passed the night before when she’d gone to the park with the food booths. It was the district where she’d seen all the Mon Cala. Tucked away between storefronts was a little pocket park, not much more than some tables and chairs, with a sun-shade fastened between the buildings to shelter the back half of the small courtyard, a few planter boxes overflowing with greenery, and some lights strung up that must be very pretty at night. 

Jacen and Rose sat at the table nearest the entrance. “So,” Jacen asked as he peeled back the foil covering his ronto wrap, “I know this is your first time in Coruscant, but is it your first time on a Core world?”

“Yes,” said Rose. “With the Resistance I was mostly in the Outer Rim, and I haven’t really seen much of the more prosperous places. My friend Torra has been telling me I need to see more of the city, enjoy myself more.”

Jacen laughed. “I’m not sure this qualifies as seeing anything.”

“It’s a picnic. Something different—oh my. Kriff. This is delicious.” Rose closed her eyes, trying not to weep for the second time today as she swallowed her hot soup so fast she burned her tongue. She sniffed, trying to get her emotions under control.

“That good, huh?” said Jacen, sounding like he wanted to joke about it, but wasn’t sure if he was allowed to do so.

Rose opened her eyes and wiped away the tears that had welled up. “It’s just that this is almost exactly like something my mom used to make,” she said, swallowing hard. “The broth has such flavor. They must roast the bones before making it…the spices aren’t quite right, but the noodles…the noodles are just the same, and the garnish with the veg…the meat…it’s so, so close. I never thought I’d have anything like it again after I left Hays Minor.” She laughed at herself, trying to calm down. “Here I am, being a fool over soup!”

“Hey, don’t feel bad,” said Jacen, covering her hand with his own. “Food can bring back memories, really strong memories. And it can take us by surprise.” He cleared his throat and moved his hand away, though Rose could still feel exactly where they had touched, the ghost of his warmth still tingling on her skin. 

“Is it as good as your mom’s?”

Rose took another spooful. “Not quite,” she said, after tasting it carefully. “But it’s really close.” A smile bloomed on her face, in spite of herself. “It’s nice to have a taste of home again, after all these years.”

“Well, we’ll make sure we go back there every day as long as we’re on Coruscant,” Jacen vowed.

“Oh, no. I want to try all different kinds of places! It’s like Torra said, there’s a lot to see on Coruscant. I can’t limit myself.”

“So, who’s this Torra?” Jacen asked. “Is she one of your friends from the Resistance?”

“Kind of, though that’s not how I know her,” Rose replied. “She was in a Resistance cell but we didn’t meet until after the war was over. Torra’s one of my closest friends on the Colossus, the fueling station I was helping to fix up.”

She started telling Jacen about her friends on the Colossus and the work she was doing there, breakfasts at Aunt Z’s, watching the ace squadron race around the station, working with CB-23 on particularly tricky engineering problems, Neeku’s habit of adopting random alien creatures as pets, playing hologames with Torra late at night, in Torra’s room up in the tower. Jacen traded back a few stories about some of his time at a spaceport with a similarly close-knit group of friends, including a laconic Wookie bartender who was preternaturally calm until the day someone came into the cantina wearing an old Imperial uniform, whereupon they learned the truth of the saying that Wookies will tear your arms out of their sockets if you anger them.

Before Rose knew it, her lunch was gone, and she could just lean back, sipping the last of her blue milk and enjoying the scent of a nearby flutterby bush as she watched the passerby. Mostly the street was full of Mon Cala, but there were plenty of humans, dressed in outfits from all different planets, several Rodians, some blue-skinned Pantorans, and even the occasional Twi’lek, which made sense given how close they were to the Guafri flat. 

Rose marveled at how prosperous and diverse Coruscant still was. She’d hated Canto Bight, and the selfish, horrible people there. But Coruscant had just a range of people, and so many regular, ordinary working folks, just like the Tico family, that Rose found herself enraptured by it.

By the time they had finished their lunch, Rose was in a far more relaxed frame of mind, and it looked like Jacen was too. He even suggested picking something up for Rey before they returned, and Rose guided him back to the nearby park with the food booths she’d visited the night before to get more of those noodles Rey liked so much.

When they re-entered the Guafri flat, though, Rey was nowhere to be found. Both BB-8 and CB-23, who were in the flat, indicated that they’d left Rey on the Ghost. Rose headed back outside to the Ghost, relieved to see the smaller shuttle was still docked on top, meaning that Rey hadn’t gone off anywhere. She squared her shoulders and advanced through the cargo hold and into the main body of the ship, calling out Rey’s name. Rose didn’t want to startle the other woman if she was in the middle of a Jedi meditation or some kind of training—especially if it was something dangerous with blasters or lightsabers. 

She wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to say to address the epic, strange, emotional fight that morning, or if she was going to say anything about it, but when she arrived outside of Rey’s room, that question completely fled her mind.

Because the sounds that were coming from Rey’s bunk—with a mercifully sealed door—were unmistakable. It was not unlike what Rose herself would have sounded like the night before, if she hadn’t taken care to muffle herself into a pillow. Rey was clearly pleasuring herself. 

Loudly.

With the sound of a hand actually SLAPPING flesh.

Whimpering and hissing.

Crying out.

Okay, so maybe Rose wouldn’t have been QUITE that loud and, erm, enthusiastic, just by herself. My goodness. Even on their smallest, least private base in the Resistance, Rose had never heard anyone make such a racket all by themselves. What on earth was Rey doing in there?

Well, for one thing, she was moaning Ben, over and over again, pleading with him for more. 

Great. The last Jedi was having a sex fantasy over the dead Supreme Leader.

Which Rose was hearing.

Face aflame with embarrassment, Rose quietly backed away from the door, and hurried out of the living quarters, then out of the Ghost entirely.

When she returned to the flat, she was relieved to be immediately distracted by CB-23, who was beeping excitedly and balancing a datapad on her head.

“I think we’ve got something here,” said Rose, examining the results as she flopped down on the couch. “There’s a correlation between several terms in our search. It seems that this ‘in-between worlds’ goes by several names. Chain Worlds. World Between Worlds. Netherworld. And…Exegol shows up several times.”

“Really?” said Jacen, taking a seat next to her.

“Mmm-hm,” said Rose, scrolling through the analysis. “Also a few other planets. Dagobah. Malachor. Ahch-to. Korriban. Moraband. Endor. Mortis, that’s one I’ve never heard of before. Naboo. Mustafar. Ilum. Oh, weird, Cantonica is mentioned.”

CB-23 beeped a correction.

“Okay, so Korriban is the same place as Moraband,” Rose corrected. “Two names, same planet.”

“Lothal?” asked Jacen.

CB-23 concurred. Two mentions of Lothal, but it didn’t show up many times and there was no real information on it.

“I guess they didn’t know much about Lothal,” said Jacen.

“What about Lothal?” Rose asked. 

“It’s the planet where my Uncle Ezra was from,” he said. “My parents spent a lot of time there during the Rebellion, running missions and messing things up for the Imperials. There was an old Jedi Temple there, very old. If it’s showing up in the records about this in-between realm, maybe there’s something going on here.”

“So if there’s a connection between this realm, and these planets…and the Emperor knew about it…” Rose said, putting the pieces together. “Maybe this is part of how the Emperor survived. If it was something that the Jedi didn’t want the Sith to know about, and he learned something about it from Lothal…hm. Maybe part of it was how to cheat death?”

“So Exegol is one of the planets connected to this in-between realm,” said Jacen, leaning closer, so close Rose could feel the warmth from his shoulder, so hyper-attuned she was to his exact, specific proximity to her body. “Maybe that’s why the Emperor showed up on Exegol when he survived.” 

“If there’s also a connection to Endor…wasn’t that where the Emperor died? On the second Death Star? Wasn’t that based in the Endor system, or something?”

Rose was finding it difficult to string words together as part of her brain kept tracking exactly how close his right shoulder was to her left breast, which seemed both entirely logical and vital to her continued existence at the same time as she knew full well she was being ridiculous.

The Rose before Crait would have just leaned in and kissed Jacen right then and there. But after Crait, and how Finn had treated her, she knew better. So she leaned back.

Jacen leaned back and shifted away as well, and fever of the moment broke. “I guess Rey might really be on to something here,” he observed. “By the way, is Rey coming?”

Rose felt herself blushing, against her own will. “Erm. I think so. Eventually. I mean, that is, she was, ah, resting. I didn’t talk to her.”

“Well, we should go and get her,” said Jacen, jumping up. “Now that we’ve got something concrete to go on.”

“Erm, no, I think we should leave her alone,” Rose said hastily. “Let’s just send a message to Chopper on the Ghost, and we can continue to go through these results that SeeBee collated for us.”

BB-8 whistled a correction.

“Excuse me,” said Rose, smiling and giving the sensitive rollie a pat on the head. “The results that you both TOGETHER came up with.”

BB-8 thanked her for the correction.

“You’re really good with droids,” Jacen observed, and held out his hand for the datapad. Rose handed it over and managed not to jump at the sensation of his fingers brushing against hers.

“Thank you,” she said. She was looking at BB-8 as she spoke, again feeling very self-conscious, and praying she wasn’t actually turning red, even though it felt as if she was blushing ferociously. “It’s one of the things I like best about Rey, too. She’s really good with droids. Always treats them with respect and kindness.”

BB-8 couldn’t resist adding in his narration of how Rey had befriended him on Jakku and had passed up a lot of portions—enough food to last her a month or more—to save him. He was very proud of the story and told it as often as possible.

“You really want me to like Rey,” Jacen replied. He glanced over at Rose before turning back to BB-8. “Both of you do.”

“Yes,” Rose and BB-8 responded simultaneously. 

Jacen shook his head. “Rey sure does know how to gain loyalty,” he remarked.

“I know she was really angry this morning,” said Rose. “But she’s not always like that.”

“Yes she is,” Jacen replied mildly, his voice getting softer with every work he spoke. “She’s always angry. Not like you. You’re…not angry. You’re always kind. Very kind.”

With him sitting so close, Rose had to stay focused on not falling into his deep blue eyes, because literally falling on his lap would be bad. Very bad. Exactly why, she couldn’t quite remember, but she distantly recalled that it would be bad. That conviction shone like a beacon from a lighthouse that dimly reached her, many clicks away, out to see and far from the rocks that threatened her nevertheless. 

No, she should not fall into Jacen’s lap, or lean any closer than she was already doing, though Rose couldn’t possibly now remember why it was bad to stare into his eyes for such a long time—

“Master Syndulla! Miss Tico!” called out TC-84, entering the room. “How lovely that you’re back! May I provide either of you a refreshing beverage?”

“Thank you, TeeSee,” said Jacen, clearing his throat and putting a bit more distance between them on the couch. Rose took the opportunity to suddenly be very interested in fiddling with the datapad, until she’d successfully activated the projection feature, and they could see a holo of the data suspended above them. Now they didn’t have to sit quite so closely together to share the datapad.

To Rose’s mixed relief and disappointment, Jacen responded by heading back into his room and getting a second datapad, for taking further notes, and when he returned, he sat almost a whole couch cushion width away from Rose.

They started going through the planets, looking at the information provided on each, and then researching them further on the Holonet. Mortis, frustratingly, didn’t show up in any records, though Jacen did remember his Aunt Sabine discussing it once in relation to some art she encountered on Lothal during the war.

“I think it was some kind of sculpture? Or painting?” said Jacen, screwing up his face as he struggled to remember. “I think it was part of the Jedi Temple on Lothal. But the Empire destroyed it and carted the pieces away. The Emperor took it.”

“It seems like everything is leading back to the Emperor, and your family,” Rose observed.

“From my perspective, yes,” Jacen shrugged. “If we had more information, I’m sure the picture would look different.”

“What about the Emperor?” asked Rey, walking into the common area of the flat. “Hey, BeeBee, what’re you projecting there?”

Jacen and Rose took turns explaining what they’d figured out so far and the mapping work they’d done while Rey drank it all in, looking more excited and energized than Rose had ever seen her. Rose found herself struggling to not dwell on why, exactly, Rey was in such a good mood. She hadn’t meant to intrude on Rey’s privacy. Certainly Rose wasn’t going to judge or shame another woman for enjoying herself, especially since Rey had every expectation of being alone on the Ghost. (Well, if you count one geriatric astromech and three porgs as being alone on a ship, but Rose supposed it was as alone as Rey got these days.) 

All the same, Rose found it hard to know where to look between Rey, who had just been climaxing while moaning the former Supreme Leader’s true name, and Jacen, who had lost his lover to Starkiller Base. Even more awkward, Rose noticed that Rey had changed her clothes—she was now wearing a high-necked brown jumpsuit—and had clearly showered, if her damp hair was anything to go by. Fortunately, Jacen fulfilled every stereotype of clueless males the galaxy over and didn’t seem to notice Rey’s wardrobe change, or her absurdly upbeat mood and irrepressible smile. 

If Jacen was so upset and angry about Rey having, and wanting to use, a Sith holocron, Rose mused, he probably wouldn’t react well to learning that Rey’s jovial attitude was because she’d just been rubbing one out to fantasies of their generation’s most powerful Dark Force user.

Once they had brought Rey up to speed, the Jedi stood there for a while and then asked CB-23 to project a map of the galaxy on the far wall, one from standard star charts, New Republic issue, at a very precise ratio and resolution, with Coruscant positioned at the dead center of the representation. Then she had BB-8 come over and project on top of that another, hand-drawn series of circles and lines, which she asked him to project in bright crimson, which made that diagram very easy to see against the larger star chart.

“Do you notice anything?” asked Rey, beaming proudly at them. 

Rose shook her head in confusion. Astral navigation and hyperlanes weren’t really her area of expertise. However Jacen, the seasoned pilot, immediately spotted the connection. 

“The worlds you circled and connected up match to the list of planets we have!” he said with excitement. “There’s the Dagobah system…Lothal…Ilum…well, now it’s gone, it was used to make Starkiller base… Naboo…Mustafar…Cantonica…they’re all here.”

“Right,” said Rey, “and you notice these circles here, that don’t correspond to planets on the star chart? This one is Ahch-to…this one is Exegol…maybe that one over here could be Mortis…”

“Wow,” said Rose. “Where did you get this map? The hand-drawn one, I mean?”

Rey grinned from ear to ear and laughed. She actually laughed with delight as BB-8 rolled back and forth, beeping excitedly. 

“It’s a modified version of the World Between Worlds, or Chain Worlds Theorum, from the Jedi texts,” she said. “I’ve manipulated it a bit in various virtual formats, trying different ratios and formulas I found in the notes. This version just really looked right too me, and it seemed similar to something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until I saw that list of planets.”

Jacen went over to the projection and examined it more closely, walking around inside it so it looked as if the dark red lines were cutting across his body and the planets seemed to be floating around him like so many soap bubbles. 

“I don’t think these correspond to any known hyperlanes,” he said, tracing the connections with his pointer finger. “Do you think they’re showing us uncharted routes? But that doesn’t seem possible, since at least one—” here he traced the line to Lothal from Coruscant, “—goes straight through at least one nebula, and skirts much too close to black holes here, and here. And this other one over here, you can see it goes straight through the Maw. I can’t see these routes as passable.”

“Could they have been viable hyperspace lanes centuries ago?” Rose suggested. “Or even longer? If it’s coming from the ancient Jedi texts, who knows when this map was created.”

“Or maybe they’re not hyperspace lanes at all,” said Rey, her eyes alight. She held her fists at her sides, as if she was so coiled up with excitement she feared exploding. “Maybe they’re a different kind of path. One in the World Between Worlds.”

The three of them sat in silent contemplation. 

“Maybe—” Jacen stopped, then started again. “Maybe this is relevant,” he said, glancing over at Rose, “and maybe it’s not. But I’m wondering if Uncle Ezra and Aunt Sabine might know something that could help us.”

“Your lost family?” said Rey, coming over and sitting next to Jacen on the couch. “Why do you think they could help?”

“Like I was telling Rose, we don’t have any information about Mortis. And I’ve never heard of it, except in a story my Aunt Sabine told me once about some artifact.” He briefly relayed to Rey exactly what he’d told Rose before.

“Hm,” said Rey, sitting back, lost in thought. “Everything comes back to your family, and the Emperor.”

“That does seem to be the pattern,” said Jacen, grimly. “I just wish we could find them.”

Rose asked, “How did they send you messages when they were in the Unknown Regions, spying for the Resistance? Before the messages stopped?”

“Wait here!” Jacen ran back to his room, and returned with what looked like an ordinary comm link. “It was a modified comm link, based on cloaked binary signal tech,” he explained. “I keep it on me always in case they send us a message again. Sabine and Ezra have one each.”

“Could I take this apart?” Rose asked, examining it. “Maybe I can reverse-engineer some kind of signal and trace their comms.”

“If they’re even still on them,” Jacen said. “Go for it. I’ve been afraid to try anything because I didn’t want to break it.”

“Maybe I can first figure out a way to slave it to CB-23’s receptors,” Rose suggested. “Duplicate it so that we could receive a signal, just in case something goes wrong.”

“Sure, go for it,” Jacen said. “I like that idea.”

“Okay,” said Rey, rubbing her hands together briskly. “Thank you all—including you,” she added to the rollies, who both beeped in pleasure at being recognized before they powered down their map projections. “I think we have a plan. Let’s try to locate Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren, and if we can’t find them yet, then the next step is to go to one of these planets that’s connected to entrances to the World Between Worlds, and try to learn more. In the meantime, Jacen, what do you say to some more Jedi training?”

“Really?” Jacen exclaimed, eyes wide. “Yesterday you said you didn’t want to.”

“I’ve changed my mind,” Rey said. “I was thinking about it, and you’re right. It would be good to practice my skills, and maybe I’m not the best teacher, but we can learn together.”

“Great!” said Jacen, and in his excitement, as he ran his fingers through his hair again, Rose could suddenly see in this man ten years older than her the curious, enthusiastic, open-hearted child he must have once been. 

“If we’re going to get in deeper with Force stuff, we both need to be at the peak of our skills,” Rey declared. “Let’s start with rocks.”

“Rocks?”

“Okay, there’s no rocks here,” Rey admitted, looking around. “It doesn’t have to be rocks. It can be anything.”

Not me! CB-23 whirred in alarm, backing up against Rose’s legs. Clearly she still remembered the terror of being inadvertently levitated that morning.

“No, no, not a droid right now,” Rey laughed. “The size and weight doesn’t matter, not really. But at first it feels like it matters, so it’s best to start small.” She headed over to the kitchenette.

Rose grabbed the comm link and her little tray of parts from Leia’s deconstructed lightsaber and tools from the dining table. “I’ll go onto the Ghost and work on this comm link,” she said. “Give you two some room for your Jedi stuff.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” said Jacen.

“It might help our concentration,” said Rey, returning from the kitchenette with an assortment of spoons. “If you don’t mind. And you could take the rollies with you.”

“Sure,” said Rose.  
BB-8 didn’t sound too pleased, but Rey gave him one stern look and he zipped off to the Ghost without protest.

“Okay,” said Rose. “Should I get us dinner later?”

“I’ll go with you,” Jacen said. “If you liked that soup, there’s a place I know that makes the most amazing sandwiches that I think you’ll really love. I’ll come to the Ghost when we’re wrapped up here for the afternoon.”

“Okay,” said Rose, unable to keep the smile from blossoming across her face. “Sounds good to me.”

“Thank you,” said Rey, addressing her, before she turned back to Jacen and preremptorily began to instruct him on how to get into a cross-legged seated position, and how the meditative approach he would take for this exercise should be different than the one they had used to open the Jedi holocron.

Rose squashed down the surge of jealousy she felt about, yet again, being left out by Force-sensitives, and walked out of the flat faster than she really needed to. CB-23 whirred along at her feet, eager to get away from Rey before she changed her mind about using droids for Force practice. Rose’s thoughts were in as much of a jumble as the servomotors on a severely compromised R2 unit. Before she even tried to do anything with the comm unit, she spent a good hour calming herself by petting and fussing over the porgs in her bunk, alternately finding her thoughts racing and stalling out as she buried her fingers in Tran, Ackie, and Shmi’s fluffy feathers as they cooed in contentment. At least porgs were simple, Rose thought. She knew how to make them happy, and they knew how to express it back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Kelly Marie Tran is Vietnamese, the soup I've invented for Rose Tico to wax nostalgic over is the GFFA version of Vietnamese phở, and the "sandwiches" that Jacen thinks she'd like are the space version of Bánh mì. I like to think my version of Jacen Syndulla would be sophisticated enough to figure out that the soup is from a similar culinary tradition as the Bánh mì sandwiches and would want to share them with Rose.
> 
> If you've ever sat around and wondered, "How would someone else interpret a Force Ghost sexual encounter?" this chapter is my effort to answer precisely that question! 
> 
> And if you were originally assuming, like Rose, that Rey was flying solo, well, now you know she was...flying Solo.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose works on reverse-engineering the comm link to trace a signal, but discovers that Sabine Wren's penchant for safeguarding tech with explosives makes it a far more difficult job than she expected. She's enjoying Coruscant, but finally gets a chance to express some of her frustrations to Rey in private, and the two girls get to have a Rose-focused heart-to-heart they both needed. Then a chance turn of events proves, yet again, that you should never underestimate a droid...or a memory.

Jacen was absolutely right about the sandwiches, which were as reminiscent of Otomok system cuisine as the soup had been. Those sandwiches became Rose’s go-to favorite food for lunch. She would pick up other meals for Jacen and Rey—pickled eggs, ronto wraps, salads with unfamiliar veg, a dense pastry filled with meat that smelled so delicious she was tempted to get one herself—but Rose kept returning to those same two foods. She knew it was perhaps ridiculous, but there was no telling the next time she’d be able to eat soup that tasted of her mother’s kitchen, or a sandwich on such perfect, crispy-crust, airy bread, filled with layers of pickled vegetables and aromatics along with delicious cold cured meats. Rose could close her eyes, bite into it, and think she was back with Paige, sitting shoulder to shoulder, hair in pigtails, kicking the bench beneath them and talking about the animals Paige dreamed of seeing someday. 

So the other two humans could eat whatever they wanted, but Rose was going to eat the flavors of a home she could only return to in her memories and dreams. To Jacen’s credit, he just smiled at her as she tucked into her fifth sandwich while Rey politely inquired if Rose wouldn’t prefer more variety. Jacen didn’t say anything. Rose got the idea that he understood, fully, exactly what it meant for a memory to be so precious you could barely speak it aloud for fear it would drift off with the words and fade in another person’s hand, like a corrupted hologram that permanently dimmed before your eyes.

During those days, Rose kept venturing deeper Coruscant and exploring it on her own in between sessions of working on the comm link. 

She found an artist’s alley and wandered in and out of galleries and artists’ studios, enraptured with the beautiful images in a variety of media. 

She kept discovering new parks and gardens, with a wider variety of plants in them than she ever thought possible. One had a pond with jumping fish that she watched for so long she was surprised to realize it was getting dark, and she needed to get back to the flat. 

Rose spent hours wandering down the fashion district, tempted at last into spending a few credits on some accessories she could use to put some variety into her own simple attire: scarves, a pair of secondhand earrings that sparkled with synthetic gems, and a new dress she wasn’t sure she’d ever get to wear. The way the light blue fabric slid over her skin, though, she simply could not resist. 

One time she even ducked out with CB-23 for a quick trip to a mechanical stall, where she bought her a second-hand repulsor jet upgrade, which led to CB-23 zipping around the Guafri flat in delight, dashing through the air as BB-8 beeped out his worry. 

Rey and Jacen always refused to go along on her jaunts. Jacen was absorbed in his Force practice, or sleeping off the exhaustion it brought on. Rey wanted to continue lying low, and she was intent on meditating on the holocron during the day. 

Every morning Rey came in from the Ghost later and later, always with a dreamy look on her face and wearing either a high-collared shirt or a scarf tied around her neck. Rose wasn’t quite sure what to make of this sudden transition in Rey’s wardrobe and attitude.

However, Rose didn’t have much time to worry about Rey, because whenever she wasn’t on her explorations of Coruscant—or sending messages back to Torra describing all the wonders she’d seen—Rose was completely absorbed in trying to reverse-engineer Jacen’s comm link to his missing uncle and aunt. That task had become even more difficult since she’d discovered that someone had rigged a tiny explosive inside to go off if anyone meddled with it. 

When she told Jacen and Rey, Jacen had just laughed and said that was clearly the handiwork of his Auntie Sabine, who loved to see things go boom. It would be a precaution against someone nefarious getting ahold of the comm link and trying to trace the signal back—which, of course, was exactly what they were trying to do. 

Rose thought that if she ever met this Sabine, she’d have a few things to say to her about handing someone an explosive comm link and never telling him about that charming little feature.

Now she was working on it outside, on the landing pad near the Ghost, in a makeshift bomb shelter, surrounded on all sides by boxes and padding that had been pushed around her to form walls. Chopper remained with her inside the “explosive perimeter,” and had instructions that if it were to start counting down he would be the one to fly it up to detonate at a safe distance above them. Rose had initially not trusted the cantankerous old astromech, but when he’d been helpful and prevented her from blowing herself up twice, and once even told her he was glad she was working on the project, her attitude towards him softened. She could see the loyalty that Jacen was always telling her about, and started to appreciate how Chopper had his own, very independent, personality, and was touchy underneath all his prickly mannerisms and rudeness. His antipathy towards the subservient attitude of a droid like TC-84 made sense as Rose saw how such behavior was anathema to him. She could even understand his hostility to the ball droids as she observed how territorial he was about the Ghost. After all, as Jacen observed one night at dinner, Chopper had been with the Ghost and its crew longer than he’d been alive.

So with this natural division of labor between Force training versus the bomb-defusing, comm-rerouting mechanics, Rose didn’t have much opportunity to see either Jacen or Rey except at meals, until somewhere on their seventh day on Coruscant. A bit after lunch, Rey came outside on the landing pad by herself to practice calisthenics. She didn’t say anything, and Rose stayed focused on her own work, just sneaking the occasional glance to see Rey’s jumps and twirls in the air, heightened by the Force. 

Finally, Rey collapsed in a sweat, sitting with her back against the one of the crates that formed the outer perimeter of Rose’s makeshift bomb shelter. 

“How long do you think it will take you to figure that system out?” she called over her shoulder to Rose.

“Hm…maybe another day?” said Rose. Then a circuit snapped out of place and she had a brief moment of panic before she could get it seated again. She sighed in relief. “Scratch that. Two days. Whatever Jacen’s aunt did to this thing, she was thorough.”

Chopper voiced his absolute admiration for Sabine Wren, pyrotechnics genius, and Rose just shrugged. The more she muttered her frustration, the more Chopper kept insisting Sabine was wonderful, and that Rose was extremely fortune to study her handcraft up close. She was no longer certain if it was defensiveness, or mockery, or pure loyalty on Chopper’s part. Or if, perhaps, something had gotten stuck and he was running a loop in his programming.

“Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I can stand it here,” Rey admitted, her voice floating above the crates that came up to Rose’s shoulder. “The number of people on this planet…and a lot of them are very loud in the Force.”

“Force-sensitives?”

“Not necessarily. Maybe a few. But many of them just have big personalities. And after a lot of training I’m more…open to that. Not as open as Jacen—he told me he can sense emotions, even ones from a while ago—but I can pick up on echoes. In a place as densely populated as this, it’s the most overwhelming I’ve ever felt it. If the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss was a spigot, this is…thundering waterfalls. Multiple. Thundering. Waterfalls. In a huge rainstorm.”

Rose stopped what she was doing and carefully set down the comm link, her heart suddenly pounding in her fingertips as she considered the implications of what Rey was telling her. 

Grateful Rey couldn’t see her face just then, Rose asked, in a tone as neutral as possible, “Is being on Coruscant affecting Jacen as much?”

“No. He had to learn to shield himself ages ago. Doesn’t even realize he’s doing it most of the time, now. I think it’s basically instinct for him to figure out how to tune it out, or pay attention when he needs to, like when he’s flying.”

CB-23 rolled out of the Ghost to see what they were up to, and carried along on her head one of the porgs, which Rose could hear cooing. 

“Hi there Shmi,” said Rey, in a voice she only ever reserved for the porgs. She started petting it and muttering nonsense words to it.

Chopper announced that he was going to go back to the Ghost and check on the important fuel line maintenance he had been doing before he had to stop to babysit a nervous bomb technician. He flew over to the Ghost—showing off his powerful repulsorlifts in front of CB-23 who still was nowhere near as fast as him—and Rose saw her opening for discussing with Rey where they were on Operation Tell Jacen the Truth About Ben Solo and Why Rey Wants Him Back.

“So,” said Rose, taking the opportunity to stand up and stretch, “have you, ah, brought up some of that important background information to Jacen yet? About you and, you know, the Organa-Solo family?”

Rey glanced up at her, and Rose was struck again by the oddness of how Rey was dressed in a full-body tan jumpsuit, which covered her arms, legs, and neck fully, given how vigorously she had been working out and that it was temperate on Coruscant. Rose was too polite to tell Rey she desperately needed a ‘fresher, but the sweat stains on the jumpsuit surely made that evident enough.

“I have told him a few things,” said Rey, making eye contact and looking completely serious. “I’ve told him more about how Palpatine was behind Snoke, how Palpatine was really Darth Sidious. He knew some of that, and knew some of what the Resistance had uncovered about Palpatine’s Contingency plan, and how that fit into the First Order. Turns out Ezra and Sabine’s intelligence, passed on through Jacen, was a lot of the background information we had on how the First Order got started. So he’s getting a pretty clear picture of how Palpatine was manipulating everyone.”

“What about, ah, our recent Supreme Leader? Or your, erm, family connection to Palpatine?”

“I haven’t yet gotten to that point in the timeline,” Rey said softly. “I’m getting there. Give me time. I’ve known him less than a month.” 

“Rey, please. It’s starting to feel like we’re lying to him by omission. I don’t like lying. I want everything in the open.”

“Oh really?” said Rey, grinning up at her smugly. “And how ‘in the open’ are you about being madly in love with Jacen Syndulla?”

Rose launched herself over the barrier and scrambled to her feet in front of Rey, who was laughing. It was nice to see Rey laugh—she’d been smiling lately, but not laughing—but Rose was still utterly humiliated, red as anything, and sputtering.

“I am not!”

“Even a little bit?”

“So what if I am?”

“You should tell him!”

“It could just be me!”

“You know that’s not true,” scoffed Rey. Shmi looked up at Rose with plaintive porg eyes, as if pleading with Rose to be honest, and CB-23 tilted her head and beeped her doubt. 

“I’ve seen you too together. There’s an attraction. But one or the other of you keeps moving away before anything happens.”

“Look,” said Rose, articulating for the first time what she was really thinking, “what if it can’t work because I don’t have the Force?” She collapsed, sitting cross-legged and facing Rey, Shmi, and CB-23. “You’ve experienced romantic love through a Force bond. Can a non-Force-sensitive really compare?”

“It’s not the same thing,” said Rey. “Force bonds hardly ever happen. We’re a dyad…that’s once in a thousand years. If that. Most Force-sensitives don’t fall in love with other Force-sensitives. Look at Leia and Han.”

“Not sure that’s a great romantic model,” Rose said grimly.

“Well, if you don’t have a Sith lord trying to ruin your life, it can work,” Rey argued. “Look at Jacen’s parents! His dad was a former Jedi and his mom was a pilot. And his Uncle Ezra had a wife. According to Jacen they were VERY happy, and Ezra’s wife wasn’t Force-sensitive.”

“Are we sure about that?” Rose asked, jerking her chin towards the comm link inside its ring of crates. “I think Sabine might be a Jedi given how she rigged that explosive.”

“Sabine and Ezra aren’t married.”

“What? But I thought—Uncle Ezra and Aunt Sabine—they went on this crazy mission together—”

“No,” said Rey, shaking her head. “They knew each other from being crew members on the Ghost during the original Rebellion against the Empire. They were best friends. Basically family. They’re not, technically, related to Jacen. Well, Ezra was his father’s padawan. Perhaps that makes him family? I’m not sure.”

“Oh,” said Rose, digesting all this. “Have there been other Jedi who fell in love with those who didn’t have the Force?”

“Not sure,” said Rey. “The Jedi records don’t say. I mean, they were forbidden to have attachments, so if they loved someone, we wouldn’t hear about it.”

“Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa…did their mother have the Force? I mean, we know Darth Vader did. Or rather, Anakin Skywalker. I suppose he wasn’t evil at that point.”

“I don’t know,” said Rey quietly. “There’s so many questions about her. I know her name—Leia once told me it was Padmé Amidala, and she was a queen—but in all honesty, I don’t know any more. Leia was from Alderaan, and the first Death Star destroyed that planet. So any records of her are probably gone. But, Rose—why do you think that would matter? Anyone with eyes—or an ocular receptor!—” Rey added, responding to CB-23’s whir of indignation at being left out, “can see that THIS particular Force-user is interested in you. Jacen likes you. Who cares about history?”

Rose hesitated. Rey was looking at her so openly, with such focus and concern. She felt like she had Rey’s full attention and empathy, perhaps for the first time in this friendship. Rose didn’t want to make Finn sound bad, but, after all, he hadn’t been a bad guy per se, and there wasn’t any other way to explain what was behind her fears.

“Well, Finn realized he was Force-sensitive. And he didn’t have time for me anymore,” Rose confessed. “I thought we really had something—I kissed him on Crait—he took care of me—and then—well, maybe I just made it into more than it really was in my mind. I had just lost Paige. I was pretty vulnerable at that point. And then…I felt like such an idiot. I was always worrying about him when he was off on missions. I was always trying to spend time with him. But he was always spending his time hanging around Poe, and he was polite but…”

“Dismissive,” finished Rey, frowning. “Yeah. I should have said something to him. It was WEIRD. I wasn’t sure what was going on there. But I was so focused on my own issues, I wasn’t really paying attention to anyone else. But Finn behaved very strangely with you. I couldn’t figure out what his deal was, if he liked you a lot…or didn’t…or cared about you…or WHAT.”

“And I’ve never had that before!” Rose exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Never! Not with anyone! I mean, I’ve only dated two genders and three species—”

“THREE species?”

“Okay, only two species seriously,” Rose amended. “I only went out once with a Togruta, and it was definitely more of a friends thing. We both realized that immediately. He was really nice, though.”

Rey’s eyes were so wide Rose wanted to laugh, but she didn’t. “How did I not know this about you?”

“You never asked,” Rose said. “Besides, you have the much more interesting romantic history.”

“I don't know about that," Rey said. "What are the two other species?”

“Human, mostly. And there was a Kiffar girl, a radar tech.” Rose could see her again in her mind’s eye, with her dark skin and her auburn dreadlocks, dyed regularly to keep them vibrant and pulled back in that gorgeous ponytail, that matched her striking auburn tattooes. “Her name was Lila. She liked to whistle while she worked.”

“I don’t think I knew her,” said Rey, the significance of that dawning on her face. “Did she die in the evacuation from D’Qar?”

“No,” said Rose, swallowing hard. “She left the Resistance. Her parents got her a message—her grandmother was dying—and she went home to be with them. Then after a few days, she sent me a comm telling me her family needed her, and she couldn’t come back.”

“Oh,” said Rey quietly. “Well, at least she’s alive, right?”

“Probably,” said Rose, with a shrug. “Honestly, after that last message…I wished her well, but I didn’t exactly look out for her comms after that. And we’d only known each other a while. Paige said it was just one of those whirlwind wartime romances. I was angry at Lila for feeling like she could just abandon the fight. She had a family. Shouldn’t she have fought FOR them? For those of us who didn’t have any families anymore? The First Order hadn’t even revealed itself yet. We still had time to make a difference, to persuade the New Republic Senate to do something, to take the threat seriously. Every bit of help we could get counted. So, you know. At least with Lila I got to be angry, instead of sad. It helped me move on pretty quickly. I was so busy there wasn’t any time to dwell on things.”

“So…everyone else has been really straightforward. Finn was the only weird one. And you think that had something to do with him being Force-sensitive?”

“Well, I saw how different he was around Jannah, and apparently she has the Force. And he was always following you around—oh, sorry, I shouldn’t have said that—”

Rey threw back her head and laughed. “Yeah, he was,” she said fondly. “Finn. I was the first person he met who wasn’t a Stormtrooper. Or Poe. The first girl, I guess. He always been very loyal to us, I guess because we were the first people he knew who weren't brainwashed.”

“Well, he wasn’t loyal to me,” Rose said wryly. “What, did he only have, like, two slots available for people he could care about?”

Rey shook her head. “By the end of the war, I had no idea what was going on with Finn,” she admitted. “I didn’t even know he was Force-sensitive until after Exegol.”

“Really? He was going around telling EVERYONE on the base about it at the victory party. Totally insufferable. Made it sound like you and he were going to restart the Jedi Order. Couldn’t stop talking about how he’d fought Kylo Ren with a lightsaber and defeated him.”

Rey started to laugh and didn’t stop for a long time. “Wow. That’s not accurate. Not at all. Kylo beat him! That’s how he got that injury on his back.”

“Well, he left that part out,” Rose said, starting to giggle himself. 

“Anyhow,” Rey said, “it wasn’t Force-sensitivity that made him be a jerk to you. I promise. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Besides, Jacen’s last girlfriend? Karva Guafri? He hasn’t said anything about her being Force-sensitive.”

“True,” said Rose, “but then that’s another thing. He’s still in mourning for her.”

“Eh,” said Rey. “I think he’s moving on.”

“Well, as long as he’s staying in a bedroom where they probably had sex, in a flat where every single item reminds him of her, I don’t think he’s likely to forget about her,” Rose retorted, then took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “Just when I think something’s about to happen, TeeSee shows up, or it turns out I took Karva’s cloak by accident, or Starkiller Base comes up, or SOMETHING. Nothing is going to happen between us while we’re here, and the longer we’re here, the more it feels like we lose…”

“Momentum?”

“Exactly.”

“I think we all need to get off this planet,” said Rey. “All of us. And the sooner you fix that comm link and trace a signal, the sooner we’ll be able to.”

“Good point,” said Rose. She reentered her little bunker. “If you stay out here, could you just levitate it if there’s a problem? Then I don’t have to bother Chopper again.”

“Sure! I can see you’ve had your fill of Chopper.”

“He’s intense,” said Rose. “And opinionated. And sometimes I think he’d love to see me blown up just to prove how much smarter Sabine Wren is than me.”

She settled back to work, and Rey started humming and singing a little song to Shmi, who was curled up in her lap and cooing in contentment. Rose wasn’t familiar with the song, so she tuned it out. Just as she was getting back into the zone with her work, though, she was startled by TC-84 coming out of the flat.

“Hello there, Miss Rey! Miss Rose!” he called. Rose was so startled she nearly dropped her mini-spanner. “Miss Rey, why are you singing a lullaby from Naboo?”

“Naboo?” Rey said stupidly. “What?”

“The song you were singing,” TC-84 replied. “It was in Basic, but several of the words are clearly from Old Gungan.”

“Huh?”

“Old Gungan,” he repeated. “The original language of the Gungan species, an aquatic people native to the planet Naboo. The phrase ‘amma ceesi, amma ceesi,’ which you were singing just now, translates roughly to ‘strong precious, strong precious.’ Those words could also be used as feminine names in Old Gungan.”

Rey’s stunned expression as she jumped up—temporarily forgetting Shmi in her astonishment, so the little porglet tumbled off her lap—seemed completely out of proportion, to Rose, to hearing a dusty old etymology of a melody. But Rey’s next question clarified matters.

“So that song,” she said, staring at TC-84 with hunger, “it would only be known to someone from Naboo?”

“Most likely,” the droid replied. “I would calculate the odds as twenty five millon to one against someone who was not a native of Naboo, or someone intimately connected with Naboo, knowing that song. The Naboo have never colonized another planet and are not known for being galactic trend-setters in terms of musical settings to soothe younglings. As I told you, I am familiar in over two million forms of communication, and among them are—”

“Yes, yes,” Rey said, holding up her hand. She turned to Rose. “Rose. I think my mother must have been from Naboo. That was the song that I got from Unkar Plutt’s memories. She sang that to me when my parents gave me up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha, bringing a whole bunch of little things together here in this chapter for that reveal at the end!
> 
> Also, in this version, I'm giving Rose a wider range of romantic experiences. Having read some Desertflower short stories, I found that bisexual/pansexual Rose made sense of me as a headcanon, and I really just wanted her love for Finn to be both completely sincere and real, but also NOT her only romantic experience ever. After all, she's 25, and unlike Rey, Finn, and Ben Solo, she has been artificially stifled her whole life. So she really SHOULD have some life experiences. 
> 
> I wanted to clarify, even before we meet them, that Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren aren't married. (Sorry, any shippers out there, but on my watch of Rebels, I definitely saw them as more of a brother-sister relationship by the end, especially on Sabine's end of things!) But I can see why one would naturally assume they were together, so I wanted to clear that up, and used Rose's perspective to do so.
> 
> As I said at the end of last chapter, I'm imagining that the soup and sandwich Rose Tico loves so dearly are, respectively, space versions of phở and bánh mì, two of the most well-known dishes from Vietnamese cuisine. Since Kelly Marie Tran is Vietnamese-American, and has spoken so compellingly of how she used her family history in developing her understanding of Rose's character, I wanted to incorporate some of that culture here, and give back to Rose some of the tastes of home.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey dives deep into Nabooian history, but Rose's big breakthrough comes when she pairs her engineering genius with her empathy, finally understanding Sabine Wren enough to dismantle the explosive in the comm link and reconstruct it as a homing beacon. Her success spurs on her blossoming romance with Jacen, though there's still some awkwardness in the air. However, Rey's revelations about her past have only just begun.
> 
> This fic is post-TROS, and accepts the events of that film as canon, though I'm developing quite a different interpretation of many of them as we wind towards the deserved HEA.

Once Rey had her big breakthrough, she spent the rest of the afternoon outside, going through a datapad with CB-23 and learning everything she could about Naboo, and calling pertinent facts over the makeshift bunker wall to Rose, with growing excitement in her voice. 

“It’s so green and lush, Rose!”

“There’s so much water on the planet! This Gungan species that TeeSee-Ate-Fore mentioned? They live in the water! They have entire CITIES underwater, like the Mon Cala do!”

“Their capital city is called Theed! It’s built over a waterfall!”

“Oh, Rose, the lakes! The lakes!”

“Wow. It seems like everything there is marble and gorgeous.”

“Their culture prizes artistry very, very highly.”

“This biography of one of their foremost painters…it’s incredible. She had such adventures traveling the galaxy.”

“Despite being close to the Outer Rim, they don’t seem to have much trade with those territories. They were always very Core-oriented in their politics.”

“A few cities, but not many. Fewer than five million sentient life forms on the entire planet, unless you count major fauna.”

“Stayed aligned with the Republic through the Clone Wars. I don’t know what that means—I still don’t really know what the Clone Wars were. But they were in the Empire, and the New Republic as well. It looks like the First Order signed a treaty with them and otherwise left them alone; there wasn’t even a garrison stationed there.”

“Seems like the Naboo and the Gungans haven’t always gotten along well.”

“It seems like a matriarchal culture? They have a Queen…but the monarchy is not inherited. It’s elected. That’s something I’ve never heard of before. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“And the Queen is always a very young girl. A teenager. As young as fourteen! That’s unusual.”

“Oh, it’s because they think she’ll be more pure of intention, or something.”

“The queen always takes a ceremonial last name when she ascends to the throne. So…I guess she gets a chance to pick her identity.” Rey fell silent for a long time, then said softly, “I can understand the appeal of that.”

“Ah-ha!” yelled Rose.

“What?” asked Rey. 

“I just dismantled the bomb!” Rose punched her fist in the air, jubilant. “This baby won’t be blowing us up any time soon. Take THAT, Sabine Wren!”

“What about my aunt?” asked Jacen, coming out of the door of the flat. As she bounded to her feet, Rose could instantly see Jacen’s exhaustion in the slowness of his gait and the slight stoop to his back; clearly the solo exercises that Rey had set for him that afternoon had taken a lot of effort.

“I dismantled the explosive,” Rose said triumphantly, pointing to her feet.

Jacen and Rey peered over the crates.

“It’s in a lot of pieces now,” he said, disappointed. “It doesn’t even look like a comm link anymore.”

“Yes, but I think the way she assembled it leaves open the possibility that we can reverse-engineer it into a signal homing device.”

“How long will that take?” asked Jacen, hope spreading across his face. Rose was momentarily distracted by how his blue eyes lit up, how she nearly swore she could see his green-tipped ears perk up, how his whole body was clearly suffused with nervous energy.

“Not too long. Maybe a couple hours? I’ve been mapping it as I went; Chopper was taking scans for me.”

“That fast?”

“Rose is the Resistance’s expert at cloaking, stealth tech, tracking, and engineering,” Rey replied, winking at her friend. “If she says it can be done in a few hours, it can be done in a few hours.”

“And then maybe we’ll get a signal, and we can track it down,” said Jacen, grinning now in earnest. “Rose, you’re a genius!”

“Well, don’t be too impressed with me just yet,” said Rose, smiling back at him. “We have to get it to work, first.”

“And hope that they’re still out there, and can send a signal,” Jacen added, his face falling. 

“They will be,” said Rose, reaching out and covering his hand that was resting on top of the wall of crates between them. “They’re out there somewhere. Everything you’ve told us about them shows that they’re very resourceful. They already made it through the war with the Empire. I’m sure they survived the First Order.”

“Maybe,” said Jacen, staring down at their hands. Rose let hers linger for a moment longer than was necessary, but then found herself blushing and backing up quickly, sitting down again with the comm link, reassessing how she had organized the pieces on her work tray and considering if she should be grouping them differently to speed up reassembly. 

“Those are such tiny pieces,” said Jacen, wonder in his voice as he leaned over the crates. “I can see why it took you so long to disassemble it.”

“Yes, which I think was part of her design,” Rose explained. “It’s not a mistake, which was what I thought the first four days. Then I realized what she was doing, thanks to Chopper.”

“Chopper helped you?”

“Not on purpose, exactly,” Rose admitted. “He was constantly telling me how wonderful Sabine was, and how I wasn’t as smart as her, and I deserved to be blown up. But a couple of his stories did help me figure out the logic of what she was doing. I think you would need to know something about Sabine’s past bomb-making patterns and explosive devices to figure it out correctly. Once I realized that, everything fell into place.”

“How so?”

“It’s very psychologically astute. Only someone who really, really wanted to use the comm link to rebroadcast a signal or trace a signal could ever do it, because you’d have to have incredible patience to take it apart without destroying it. Her patterns are full of redundancy, simplicity, but also a certain artistic flair, like the way she braided some of the wires, and how she dotted the connector points in a pattern that only looks random, until you realize that they form the outline of a Rebel firebird symbol. I think…I think your Aunt Sabine wanted you to be able to find her, but only when the war was over and everything was safe. If you were in the middle of fighting, or a dangerous situation, you wouldn’t have the time and concentration necessary to dismantle this comm link and rework it. She cares about you so much she wanted to be sure nobody could use this technology against you, nobody could easily blackmail you into revealing her location, and nobody could stop you from finding her and your uncle again when the war was over, and everything was safe. Which also means,” added Rose, looking up at him, “she knew we would win. She was that confident.”

“Interesting,” said Jacen, staring at the pieces. “You got all that from her comm link?”

“Well, that and Chopper’s stories. Like I said. He wouldn’t shut up about her.”

“I think you understand my aunt incredibly well,” said Jacen, and their eyes locked again. “You are extraordinary, Rose Tico.”

She grinned, a warmth welling up in her heart. “It’s the most fun project I’ve had since the war,” she admitted. “A real challenge, but also something small, you know? A way to reunite a family. I think…I think that’s what I want to do someday. After this adventure is over.” 

For the first time in a year and a half, Rose suddenly found herself giggling, genuinely giggling, as she reached up and traced her finger over the Otomok medallion she kept tucked in her neckline. “I just realized that now,” she said, wonder creeping into her voice as she giggled again. “I must sound ridiculous. But I just realized that now. That’s the kind of work I want to do. Isn’t that crazy? It can’t all look like this, but that’s the sort of thing I want. And for the first time since I left my home planet, I know what I want that has nothing to do with winning a war. And it’s all because your trigger-happy aunt left you a weird explosive comm device.”

Jacen opened his mouth, as if to say something, and then shut it again. He pushed aside some of the crates and awkwardly wedged his lanky frame into the small oval of space that Rose had made from the wedged-together materials.

“Can I help you reassemble it?”

“Oh, um, sure,” said Rose. 

For a while, then, they sat, their knees nearly touching, as they slowly worked together, under Rose’s direction, to rebuild the comm link, with some slight variations and additions to make it suitable for tracing a signal back, which was the exact opposite of its original purpose. Rose found herself so absorbed in the project she didn’t even think to feel self-conscious around Jacen, and they settled into an easy rhythm, until Rose suddenly found herself blinking in the dimming light.

“It’s getting late,” Jacen said. Rose looked up at him and realized, glancing around, that the sun was nearly setting. She hadn’t even noticed. 

“Oh,” she said quietly. “Where’s Rey?”

“She and SeeBee went back into the flat a while ago.”

“Ah. It’s just us.”

“Yes, it is.”

They looked at each other, the comm link forgotten on the tray between them. Surrounded by the crates and boxes, tall as Rose’s shoulders, they were in their own tight, tiny little world, hidden from view.

Two pieces of metal, suddenly magnetized by a current, will instantly snap their opposite poles together, without needing to pause, or think, or explore. Two entangled particles will, even separated by a galaxy, instantly know the other’s position and spin, and respond, faster than the speed of light. A drop of unrefined coaxium, added to a hyperdrive, will immediately rocket forward a ship with force that no navicomputer could predict, no gravity maw could contain, no black hole could suck away.

Just so, they came together and kissed.

It was brief, then it wasn’t. One kiss bled into the next, stretching out and elongating, each slower and hotter than the last. Rose found his hands on her face, her hands on his shoulders, grabbing them and feeling the muscles underneath his shirt that were as tempting to touch as they had been to gaze upon when she’d stumbled across him bare-chested in the dark hallway. Somehow a part of her mind had her aware of her body, how she was angling it over the tray between them, still careful not to jostle the fragile comm components, and only that kept her from clambering into his lap. Jacen’s hands threaded through her hair, undoing the loose buns she’d pinned it up in earlier that morning, fumbling through her tresses, sliding his fingers down through her hair in a careful, practiced gesture that sent a shiver through her. This was premeditated. He had thought, dreamed, lusted after doing exactly this thing to her, to her hair. He’d wanted to bury his fingers in it since he’d met her, and she knew all this, just from how he was touching her right then.

Two atoms, perfectly aligned to each other, will crash together, ignite, explode, fuse inside the core of a star, merge into a new element, and throw off a beam of light that pierces the darkness, defeats it, annihilates it and renders it meaningless and nameless and helpless against the blaze of glory that leaps into existence.

His tongue was in her mouth. Two fingers were sliding just under her collar, gently stroking the crook of her neck, a spot behind her ear, slipping beneath fabric to trace the very top edge of her collarbone. She was on fire. Rose was pure fire. She found her own hand suddenly on the edge of his right ear, tracing the outside shell of it, and then suddenly hitting that green tip that had tempted her since she’d first realized he was half-Twi’lek, and then Jacen hissed, and then he began kissing her even more frantically, his hands grabbing at her sides, clumsily squeezing half of her left breast, but not on purpose, more just because it was there, and then he did realize it was there, and then he squeezed in earnest.

The slightest breeze can startle a winged insect, push it forward off a trembling leaf, throw it hurtling into the mercy of the air currents before it realizes it has begun flying, before it can regain balance, before it can realize the plunging, falling sensation is something within its power to control. The gentlest, faintest, most attenuated ray of early sunshine can alert a flower to open up, to warm, to unfold. A single drop of rainwater, just one, sliding down a petal, can nestle in the heart of a flower, moist and secret inside, hidden away, right where it is sweetest-smelling and most fragile.

Rose forgot about the tray between them, the comm link, every fear and doubt she had ever had, every bad thing that had ever happened, and somehow she was in his lap, her legs were wrapped around his waist, his arms were encircling her and holding her close to his warm, solid body, and still they couldn’t stop kissing and touching each other. She blossomed.

She was peppering him with little kisses, across his face, his nose, even a little nip to his earlobe—Jacen hissed at that—and he buried his face in her neck, giving her the naughtiest lick that made her squeak, then laugh, laugh again, and then he laughed, and they looked at each other with astounded smiles on their face in the dim light, and somehow that broke the spell, but in a good way. They looked at each other and it wasn’t magic anymore. It was real.

By silent, unspoken consent, they got up then, and found themselves readjusting their clothing. Rose went to pin her buns back up, but Jacen put out his hand and stilled her wrist. She simply combed her fingers through her hair a few times and then shrugged.

Jacen put his mouth so close to her ear she shivered. “I have been waiting for that for a while.”

“How long?” Rose whispered back.

“A long while,” he said, a smile stretching across his face.

“Come to my room tonight,” Rose whispered back—then, “I mean to talk. Tonight. After Rey’s gone back on the Ghost. We should talk.”

Jacen pulled her close, slinging an arm around her. “To talk, then,” he said, in a tone that somehow went even deeper.

“You say it like you have other things in mind,” she teased, a little surprised, and also not surprised, to find herself able to tease him, so soon. She had forgotten the intimacy earned quickly with kissing like that, with such passion, with such intent, leaving her feeling completely overwhelmed and utterly secure, at the same time.

“I do, oh, I do have other things in mind,” he murmured, pushing an errant strand of her hair behind her right ear, “but not for tonight. I like to take things slowly. I hope that’s okay?”

“I like how things are going right now,” Rose whispered back. “Is this what you call slow?”

Jacen laughed a little. “Well, we can…discuss that further.”

“Talk later, then,” said Rose. “After dinner.”

“Yes,” he agreed quietly. “After dinner.”

They pulled apart. Rose bent to pick up the tray. “It’s nearly done,” she said, still speaking softly in the dim light. Everything seemed dark, and quiet, and slow.

“You’re fast,” Jacen remarked. 

“Only when I know where I’m going, and what I’m doing,” she said.

They weren’t just talking about the comm link anymore, and they both knew it.

\----

Back inside the bright lights of the central living quarters of the flat, Rose had to blink repeatedly as her eyes adjusted to the glare of the overhead lighting, with the Coruscant skyline beyond, gleaming against the purpling sky. Rey was reclining on her stomach, sprawled on the floor, still deep in her datapad results. She had CB-23 projecting an interactive sliding timeline of Nabooian history on the largest wall.

“Okay, first galactic concordance that led to Naboo being incorporated into the Republic—highlight that one in gold, for politics—oh, hi, there,” she said, looking over her shoulder at them.

“It got too dark to work,” said Rose.

Rey, to her credit, said nothing, not even raising an eyebrow. “Hungry for dinner?”

“Why don’t we order in?” Jacen suggested. “I have some leftover credits on an old GrubHutt account.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a system for ordering food from a variety of restaurants through the holonet,” he explained. “You bank credits on it, and then you can order from any vendor that has connections with the GrubHutt system, and it’s delivered to you. Only works on Coruscant, though.”

“I don’t want to do anything connected with the Hutts,” Rey grumbled. “I had enough with Resistance compromises with those sleemos during the war.”

“It’s just a pun, Rey,” he reassured her. “It has nothing to do with the Hutt cartels, I promise. TeeSee? TeeSee? Do you know where my old GrubHutt card is?” 

“I’m not sure, Master Syndulla,” said TC-84, emerging from the family quarters, “but I believe it may be among the other loyalty cards in the Guafri rolodex. Would you like to look with me?”

Jacen sighed and rolled his eyes, following TC-84. “Might as well,” he said. “I don’t know when I’ll be back here next, and those credits must expire sometime.”

For a few moments it was quiet in the living quarters. Rey continued flipping through her datapad, and Rose set up the tray with the mostly-reassembled comm link components on the dining table. But she didn’t feel like spending more time staring at it right now. She was still feeling langorous and overwhelmed after her kisses with Jacen, an interlude that was increasingly seeming unreal, except that her mouth still had that swollen feeling. On the one hand, she wanted to go to Rey, squeal about how she’d finally been able to make a move—or respond to a move—truly, Rose wasn’t sure who had reached for who first. But on the other hand, Rey wasn’t Paige, and somehow that sort of sisterly confiding seemed too new. Rose had the instinct that she should talk to Jacen first, find out what, exactly, he meant by moving slowly.

She moved over to the couch and asked the first innocuous question that popped into her mind.

“Have you ever met a Hutt?” 

Rey looked over her shoulder at Rose and raised an eyebrow. 

“They’re not cute like porgs,” Rey warned.

“I know that,” Rose scoffed. “I just…wondered.”

“Yeah,” said Rey dryly. “I’ve met a Hutt. Was not a fan. Niima Outpost on Jakku is named after Niima the Hutt. She kind of smelled. Oozing. Literally smelled. Although I only met her once, when she was just weeks from death, so maybe she was less putrid in youth? It was the worst smell ever. It was like her fetid, rancid personality just…turned into stench.” 

“WORST smell ever?”

“The worst.”

“Even worse than a wet Wookie who fell into the mud, then got caught in a trap of stinkbombs, and then walked right into those viperblossoms that reacted by squirting all over him?”

Rey burst out laughing. “Worse,” she swore, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “Oh, poor Chewie!”

“Ugh, that sap just HARDENED on contact!” Rose cried, unable to keep from giggling a little as she did. “I felt so bad for him. It really wasn’t funny!”

“No, it wasn’t. Although, you have to admit, the EXPRESSION on Leia’s face when we got back to base, and she smelled Chewie, before he even came off the ramp…”

“That was priceless!” Rose laughed. “And then Maz was there telling her not to be such a princess…”

“I AM A PRINCESS AND HE SMELLS LIKE SOMETHING THAT DIED IN THE PITS OF KARKOON!” Rey bellowed, doing her best indignant Leia Organa impression. It wasn’t a very good impression, but Rose collapsed laughing onto the couch anyway.

“It took weeks for the smell in the cockpit to fade,” Rose sighed. “I can’t believe Klaud fell for it when I told him it was a promotion to start flying the Falcon on missions with the boys.”

“Wait, that’s why you stopped going with them?”

“Well, yes. I couldn’t stand the stench, and Klaud lacks olfactory glands. He wanted to get off-base more, so I figured everyone won. And then I was going to rejoin them again, but they ran that last mission, and got the intel about Palpatine…and well, you know the rest.” Rose shrugged. “Only other time I’ve been on the Falcon since then was the night after Exegol, when you told Chewie and me the whole story.”

“Oh. I thought…I thought it was about Finn.”

“What about Finn?”

“That you stopped flying missions on the Falcon because you were avoiding Finn. I thought that was because it was too painful, since you had feelings for him, and that made it hard for you to be around him.”

Rose shrugged. “Finn wasn’t a problem. I was over him by that point. He was being a real bantha-herding, poodoo-slinging, good-for-nothing—”

Rey raised an eyebrow at her, with a look on her face that drew Rose up short before she could finish her sentence, which was going to end on a noun considerably harsher than “sleemo.”

Just then Jacen cleared his throat from the doorway. “I found my GrubHutt card,” he said, a bit awkwardly, in a way that made clear that yes, he had heard at least part of that conversation. “What would you like to order?”

Rose couldn’t bring herself to turn around and face him, and she focused instead at looking at the absolutely fascinating Coruscanti skyline, wondering if any of those other lights featured places where someone was as deeply embarrassed as she was right now. Nothing said “awkward” quite like making out with a man, then him finding out about your sort-of ex, as you badmouthed him—and moreover a sort-of ex who had been celebrated nonstop the as a Resistance hero for the past six months. 

Except, of course, the only thing more awkward could be realizing you’d just done that while sitting on a couch where your new love interest’s exquisite dead girlfriend had likely also made out with him, passionately, before she was killed in the most massive war crime the galaxy had ever seen.

No, there could not be any other sentient creature on the entire planet who felt all the awkward layers of conflicting humiliation that Rose was experiencing right now.

Rey jumped up. “How about those buckwheat noodles from our first meal here?” she suggested brightly. “And that pickled veg that Rose got us last night, the one that was kind of spicy?”

“Sure,” said Jacen, and Rose nodded, and made a beeline for the dining table, burying herself again in trying to fix the comm link. She quickly found herself in the flow of it again, snapping circuits together from memory and retrofitting the tiny parts, coaxing them into their new purpose. 

“Here you go,” Jacen said quietly, and Rose looked up to find him pushing a glass of melioorun juice towards her. His blue eyes held none of the pity, or judgment, she was afraid to find—only something gentle, and unexpectedly tender. 

“Do you want to help me finish this?” Rose asked, and he nodded and settled in next to her, assisting almost without needing words, or more than a mutter, to prompt his next step. 

Rey was still working with CB-23, undertaking her massive review of the entire history of Naboo, so her comments and quiet exchanges with the rollie were the only other noise in the Guafri flat. Rose found herself completely absorbed in her work, not even looking up at Jacen, entirely focused on the comm link components taking new form beneath their hands.

They finished up faster than Rose would have expected, though she looked it with a frown. “I think that will work, but…I feel like there’s something missing.”

“Missing?”

“It needs something to intensify the signal trace.” She shook her head. “I’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

“You will,” Jacen responded confidently. He leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head, and beamed at her. “You’re incredible, Rose Tico. I had that comm link for years and never thought to re-engineer it that way.”

Rose looked down, blushing, suddenly feeling very aware of how his heated gaze made her feel, what they had just been doing only—could it only be an hour?—before in their makeshift bunker, outside, in the darkness.

“Hey,” said Rey, bounding up behind Rose. “You really did an amazing job.”

“Thanks,” Rose said, snapping the coverplate back into place, and handing the reconstructed comm link back to Jacen. “It’s not quite done, but we’ll figure it out later. How has your review of Naboo been going?”

“Why are you looking up all this information about Naboo?” asked Jacen.

Rey looked more nervous than Rose expected, bouncing slightly on her feet and running one finger unconsciously under the top of her high collar. “Well,” she said, “it turns out my mother may have been from Naboo, based on TeeSee’s identification of a lullaby I pulled from Unkar Plutt’s mind on Jakku.”

“Wait, you pulled out his memory?” said Jacen. “That’s really violent, Rey! That goes beyond Jedi mind tricks.”

“You were there,” Rey shot back, every line of her body rigid with sudden, fierce anger. “He’s not exactly up for Crolute of the year. He was horrible. He owned me,” she spat. “He owned me, he exploited me, he starved me and cheated me of my wages.”

“Stealing memories, that’s Dark,” Jacen argued. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, and I do,” Rey hissed. “Just because something isn’t what the precious Jedi would preach in their temple doesn’t mean it’s evil!”

“I know more than you give me credit for,” retorted Jacen. 

“Stop,” Rose said, holding up her hands. Rey was standing on the other side of her, and so Rose, seated, was literally in the exact middle of the two of them. She didn’t have to raise her voice to get their attention; it was as easy as interfering in their field of vision.

“Stop,” she said again, as calmly as before. “You can argue about how Rey got the memory later. The point is that she thinks her mother might be from Naboo, since she was singing a song that could only come from that world.”

“Wait,” said Jacen, refocusing on Rey as if he was seeing her for the first time. “So this song, that’s your first real clue as to anything about your parents?”

“About my mother, yes.” Rose noticed the omission, but Jacen didn’t. 

“That must mean a lot, to learn something about her,” said Jacen. “I can understand that. I never got to know my dad. So…the Jedi stuff. It’s my connection to him.”

“Right, well…there’s more, based on my survey of Nabooian history,” said Rey, twisting her hands together. “It turns out there’s a lot of important people from Naboo. One of them,” she said, turning to Rose, “was Padmé Amidala.”

“Why is that name familiar?”

“Because she was Leia Organa’s birth mother,” said Rey.

“Wait, I thought she was princess of Alderaan?” said Jacen.

“Leia was, but by adoption,” Rey explained. “Apparently Padmé had her, and Luke Skywalker, in secret. Originally, their mother was from Naboo.”

“Wait, so are you trying to tell me you’re related to General Organa?” asked Rose, struggling to put all the pieces together.

“No!” Rey snorted. “I doubt it. Naboo has millions of people on it. I doubt my mother was related to Leia’s family.”

“The entire Skywalker family tree is weird,” Jacen said fervently, and it was only Rose’s awareness of how much Rey was entwined with its last scion that kept her from agreeing.

“Oh, it’s not the weirdest thing I found,” said Rey grimly. “You’ll never guess who else was from Naboo.” She paused, building anticipation for her grand reveal. “EMPEROR PALPATINE HIMSELF.”

“Well, yeah,” said Jacen at the same time that Rose gasped in shock. “I mean, he was senator from Naboo before he became Chancellor, and then he became Emperor.” 

The girls both just looked at him.

“What?” he said with a shrug. “I take an interest in politics. And when your family history is all about fighting wars and running resistance movements and underground rebellions, you get to know the stories about the major players. Remind me to tell you sometime about when my mom and the rest of the Ghost crew rescued Mon Mothma and helped assemble the first Rebel Alliance fleet.”

“Your parents knew Mon Mothma?” said Rose, impressed despite herself, but Rey had already moved on, indifferent to politics as always.

“I don’t think this is a coincidence,” she said, taking her seat at the table and facing the other two. “That my mom may be from the same planet as Emperor Palpatine originally came from? It could help explain how my parents met, what their connection was. Maybe my father grew up on Naboo. Maybe that’s where my grandmother came from as well. I could still have family back there. Extended family.”

“Wait,” said Jacen, holding up one hand. “I’m lost again. Why does it matter that Emperor Palpatine was from the same planet as your mother?”

“Well,” said Rey, taking a deep breath, and giving a little nod, as if agree with herself, or perhaps with Rose, who was watching her with a growing feeling in the pit of her stomach as though she was watching, yet again, a mid-air collision shaping up, and she was powerless to pull the X-wing out of the sky to safety. 

“Rose is right. You deserve to know the truth. I’m the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.”

“WHAT?!?!” hollered Jacen, so loudly that CB-23 shot into the air in alarm, her repulsor lifts suddenly kicking into gear. “YOU’RE A SITH AND YOU’VE BEEN TRAINING ME?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Jacen finally get their first steamy kiss! 
> 
> I'm assuming Rey possesses approximately zero social skills for explaining big reveals, as she's never really had to do so before. She's not great at processing emotions and figuring out how others will see information, or respond to her actions, and that's consistent in her character through TFA, TLJ, and parts of TROS. 
> 
> Naboo makes sense to me for reasons that will hopefully become increasingly clear as this fic progresses. 
> 
> Rey's not callous. She just can't realize how big a bombshell this information is going to be to a man who grew up constantly hearing about how his father died fighting the evil Empire, and how the Emperor was personally responsible for hunting his father and the rest of the Ghost crew.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jacen's horrified reaction to learning about Rey's parentage, and her connection with Palpatine, is cut short when a new emergency arises. A holo from his mother alerts them to bounty hunters hot on their trail, and they have to escape Coruscant as quickly as possible. In the middle of the excitement, Rose learns more about what Jacen did during the war, and she is not pleased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long hiatus! Many thanks to everyone who left kudos or comments since the last chapter was posted. You kept me motivated!
> 
> I've plotted out the rest of the story, and had to raise the chapter count. But I have a very clear idea of where it's going next, and why; some of the connections that were bothering me when I stopped writing last have finally coalesced in my head in terms of how to sequence things!

“No!” snapped Rey, and they were now both on their feet, Rey standing by the table and Jacen pacing around the room, dodging CB-23, who was so alarmed she couldn’t seem to modify her repulsors enough to return to the ground. “Don’t be absurd! I’m not a Sith!”

“Well, you’re the granddaughter of the last Sith lord and the Emperor and…karabast, the puppet-master behind everything…behind all the wars, all the death…”

“I only just found out!” Rey protested. “Just before Exegol! I was in shock! I don’t know anything else except that apparently my father was decended from Palpatine! You can ask Rose! Rose, tell him I just found out at the end of the war!”

Jacen wheeled on her, and Rose wasn’t prepared for the hurt, or the betrayal in his eyes. He groaned, running his fingers through his green hair, and she found herself unable to say anything. She could only look down at the tray where her tools lay, where she had just been reconstructing Sabine’s comm link.

“HE KILLED MY PARENTS!” Rey burst out. “That’s all I know about the Emperor. I never knew who the Emperor was, and I don’t care! I didn’t want ANYTHING to do with him! I never did! The only time I met him was when I killed him! I just…I just wanted to know something about my parents. And understand my own Force powers better,” she finished, trailing off a bit uncertainly. Rose noticed that Rey instinctively moved into a defensive stance, as if Jacen was about to grab a lightsaber, or a quarterstaff, and start wielding it—a habit borne of a lifetime of having to fight for herself. 

“Force powers! Powers you got from the Sith,” Jacen spat. “From the Dark side. No wonder you’re so attracted to the Dark. You haven’t been honest with me from the beginning. And you KNEW this, Rose?”

“Yes,” said Rose, looking at him steadily, and feeling her heart quiver in her chest like it was suddenly made of gelatin, still solid, but shaky and fluid at the same time. “Yes, and I don’t care. Blood doesn’t define us. What matters are the choices we make. Rey has always chosen the Light side. She’s always chosen to fight for others. That’s why Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa trained her as a Jedi.”

Rey made a little movement, as if to argue, but then stopped. 

Rose knew that Luke hadn’t exactly trained Rey, but that was a story for another time.

“What matters is in our heart,” Rose found herself saying, and she reached out and grabbed Jacen’s hand. He didn’t respond, but he didn’t pull away either, his fingers resting lightly in hers. 

“Rey is on the side of the Light,” Rose insisted, speaking more calmly now. “She is the last Jedi. She hasn’t been leading you to the darkness. Yes, your family was hurt by the Empire, by the Emperor, by the First Order, by all the wars. My family was too. But Rey is as much a victim as any of us. She can’t help who her family was, or might have been. Can you blame her for wanting to know a little more about her mother?” She found herself unexpectedly blinking back tears, her left hand drifting up to her Otomok medallion. “It’s hard to give up on family,” she said quietly. “Even if they’re gone.”

Jacen stared at her, his hand still and warm in her grasp. Rose held her breath. Nobody seemed to know what to say; for once, Rey was silent, as though she knew, well enough, that nothing she could say at the moment would make anything better.

Then TC-84 came out of the family quarters and announced, “Excuse me, Master Syndulla, but I believe someone is at the door. It must be the food delivery.” He made his way to the vestibule and they could hear him talking with some raspy-voiced humanoid before he returned with his arms laden with carry-out boxes on a simple tray.

“Shall we have dinner?” asked TC-84 brightly, arranging the boxes on the table. Rose rushed over to get the reconstructed comm link out of the way, shoving it in a pocket.

“Rose, how could you not have told me?” Jacen demanded.

“Told you what?”

“That she was the Emperor’s granddaughter. If that’s even true. The Dark side lies.”

“Master Syndulla,” said TC-84, “I do believe that you should eat these fast, as buckwheat noodles are best when hot.”

“What do you mean if that’s even true?” asked Rose, facing him. “Do you think Rey would lie to us?”  
“I have no idea,” groaned Jacen, throwing his head back and running his fingers through his green hair that Rose hungered to touch. “The Dark Side is full of lies.”

“While the nutritional value will remain constant…”

“Wait, you think he might have been lying?” asked Rey, excited. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Why would the Emperor lie to you and say you’re his granddaughter?”

“…I have observed that most species prefer to take nourishment at specific temperatures…”

“He didn’t say to me first,” Rey admitted. “He said it to Ben, who told me.”

“Oh, this is ridiculous!” said Jacen, shaking his head. “It’s like a children’s game of broken comm link!”

“…and you may find it less appetizing when the noodles have acclimated to room temperature…”

“No, really,” said Rey, taking her seat at the table with alacrity, her face alight with excitement. “This changes everything! The Emperor could have been lying to Ben to manipulate him. Or maybe the Emperor was trying to manipulate me. Maybe through Ben? Though then why would he have sent Ochi to hunt me down…hmm…”

“Who’s Ochi?” asked Rose and Jacen simultaneously.

“Unimportant,” said Rey, waving off the question.

“…therefore I must insist upon you consuming your meal now!” finished TC-84. His volume had been growing the entire time he was speaking, and so his final statement was at a near bellow-that startled them in the silence.

“TeeSee,” Jacen said through gritted teeth, “we’re having an important conversation here.”

The protocol droid drew himself up even more stiffly, if such a thing were possible. “I understand, Master Syndulla, but it is extremely important that you take nourishment at regular intervals for your health and well-being. I have been given strict instructions to ensure that priority by Mistress Karva Guafri herself!”

At the sound of Karva’s name, it was as if Rose had the breath knocked out of her. For the second time since kissing Jacen, she was reminded of the tragically dead, beloved Twi’lek. She glanced at Jacen, and his face had gone blank, a mask over his feelings.

“Thank you, TeeSee,” Jacen said gently. Pleased with himself, the protocol droid inclined his head and walked back into the family quarters.

Rose buried herself in her noodles, and her companions did the same. After a few minutes, as Rose was spooning some pickled veg atop them—her father used to love to mix his sides and mains together like that, and she seemed to have inherited his tendency—Jacen broke the silence, speaking much more gently now.

“I’m sorry, Rey.” 

“It’s okay,” she said. “I guess I’m not very good at sharing information. And I didn’t think about how it might sound to you. To me, the Emperor is some long-ago dead figure I fought and killed the only time I met him. But I guess if you have a family that fought the Empire, then it’s different.”

“Well, Rose is right,” Jacen admitted, looking at Rose with those gorgeous, mesmerizing blue eyes she could just drown herself in. “You’ve proven yourself as a Jedi, and as someone on the Light side of the Force, time and again. You don’t have to keep justifying yourself to me. Rose is right. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

Rose basked in the trust she saw shining in Jacen’s eyes. After a long pause, Rey cleared her throat and Rose pulled herself together, breaking her eye contact with Jacen. How long had they been staring at each other?

Rose dug into her noodles again, and Rey started talking once more about various significant events in Nabooian history, none of which meant anything to Rose. It was strange, to see Rey so animated, engrossed even, about something that was neither mechanical, nor Force-related. Even the intricacies of their favorite holodrama couldn’t compare, clearly. Rey’s hunger for any scrap of Nabooian-related information that might connect to her mother’s culture was palpable. Perhaps for the first time since arriving on Coruscant, Rose felt pity for her. Rey was hard to pity, so inured she was to her own losses. Anyone in the Resistance who expressed concern, or sympathy, when Rey shrugged off injuries, or expressed her appreciation of some stale but abundant ration bars, or otherwise gave evidence of her hardscrabble childhood taking care of herself, would be rapidly shut down. Rose had learned to admire, not pity Rey. Yet now, watching her prattle on about the minute details of some long-ago annual ceremony on Naboo to celebrate its entrance into the Republic, and the stories of its disruption one year during the Clone Wars, Rose was struck afresh by how deep Rey’s longing for family and connection went. Both women had lost everything, but Rey had never even really known a happy family or home. Even the temporary, makeshift found family of the Resistance couldn’t fill that emptiness, Rose saw now. The war over, they scattered to their individual purposes and lives. 

Even Rose had left Rey behind, she now realized. When she’d gone to the Colossus, won over by Neeku’s sincere plea for mechanical help to Resistance HQ, Rose had only thought of how it would give her a chance to process everything that had happened since she left Hays Minor, and spend time on a worthy task with others who had experienced the war at a somewhat safer distance, who didn’t remind her of Crait, or Exegol, or the wreckage orbiting D’Qar, where there must be Paige’s half of their Otomok medallion floating somewhere among the stars. (Rose refused to accept that it could have been incinerated; surely this small part of Paige must have survived. Surely.) But from Rey’s perspective, perhaps Rose leaving had been just another friend abandoning her when she needed companionship the most.

Another friend who was the only living soul, besides Chewie and BB-8—if a droid could be counted as alive—who knew about Rey’s greatest loss of all, the loss of her soulmate, her partner, her other half of a once-in-a-thousand-years Force dyad.

Rose’s reverie—and her mechanical eating of the last of her noodles and veg—abruptly ended when the front door flew open and Chopper zoomed in, speeding into the central living quarters on a single wheel, both his side struts pulled up for maximum speed, hollering and waving his tiny mechanical arms frantically. CB-23 shrieked in surprise and alarm, propelling herself up on her thrusters and zooming across the room, clearly afraid of the larger astromech colliding with her in his haste.

“Whoa, whoa!” cried Jacen. “What’s the problem?”

Chopper replied by projecting a holo recording of an older Twi’lek woman, wearing coveralls and pilot’s goggles, her arms folded in front of her. “Jacen Syndulla,” she said sternly, her lekku twitching with agitation, “you need to come home right NOW. I don’t know what you’ve done, but there’s a bounty on your head. Ketsu just contacted me that she picked up chatter that you’ve been traced to Coruscant. Either you’re laying a false trail—in which case you’re in so much trouble you better get back to Ryloth before I come and find you—” now the woman was actively shaking a finger at Jacen, who was staring at the recording in horror, “OR they’ve found you, and you better get back to Ryloth before I come and find you. I got through two wars without anyone putting a trace on the Ghost, and so if you get so much as a scratch on my ship, or a tracker, or it winds up on any checkpoint watch lists, not only will I have something to say about it, your SISTER will deal with you.” Her gaze then softened as her arm fell. “Please be safe, my love. Please. Come home to us. We’ll be ready to deal with anyone who tries to follow you.”

The holorecording then looped back to the beginning and Chopper started to play it again, but Jacen waved at him to shut it off. “That was my mom,” he said, somewhat unnecessarily. “We have to leave. Now.”

“Why do you have bounties on your head?” asked Rey, sounding surprised but not nearly as horrified as Rose felt right then.

“Well…” started Jacen, shrugging as if to say, ‘who knows,’ but then Chopper interrupted and explained, tartly, that not all their activities the past two years were strictly legal, especially the shipments from Kessel.

“You ran spice?” Rose gasped. “How could you? Don’t you know how addictive that stuff is? It took my uncle years to kick the spice habit!”

“Yeah, well,” Jacen mumbled, his face crimson with shame as he ran his hand through his hair, “it was a great cover for being a Resistance courier and smuggling people out of First Order-controlled territories. But…there might be a few people I angered. I didn’t think any of them were still upset, though! We got everyone their credits. Eventually.”

“Jacen!” Rose cried out. “No wonder your mother’s upset with you.”

“No, she’s upset because there’s a bounty on me and the Ghost is supposed to be untraceable,” he corrected her. “C’mon, let’s get going!”

Rose shook her head at him and ran down the hallway to the room she was using, and started grabbing the few items that had made their way out of her small bag, stuffing them back in.

“Poe ran spice,” said Rey from the doorway. She said it like it was an apology, or an excuse, for what Jacen Syndulla had done, but Rose wasn’t buying it. 

“Yeah, right,” she snorted. “Poe just said that to seem cool. He’s Shara Bey’s son. He went straight into the New Republic navy. When would he have had time to smuggle?”

“I have no idea when he was running spice,” Rey retorted. “But I know he did because we met someone he used to work with, right before the battle of Exegol.”

“Seriously?” said Rose, heading back down the hall with her hastily-packed bag slung over one shoulder. “Did General Organa know?”

“Why would she care?” Rey laughed, grabbing her datapad from main living quarters. “Her husband was a smuggler. That was actually how I met Han Solo. Finn and I ran into him when he was smuggling rathtars.” She had a smile on her face that surprised Rose, but clearly it was connected to some happy memory.

“Now that’s a story I’d like to hear the rest of later,” said Jacen, emerging from his room with his own, hastily packed bag. “Let’s get going! TeeSee,” he called out to the droid, who had come into the main living quarters with all the commotion, “I’m sorry to leave so abruptly, but we need to evade some bounty hunters hot on our trail.”

“And you brought them here? Oh dear, oh dear,” fussed TC-84, waving his arms in the air in a manner that immediately brought General Organa’s old golden protocol droid to mind. 

“Yes, and you have to destroy any record of us being here and all the evidence,” Jacen said. “Think you can do that, TeeSee?”

The silver droid gave a long-suffering sigh. “As always, Master Syndulla. I will have the cleaning droids start on it immediately, once you have departed.”

“Please give Mungo—Master Guafri—my sincerest regards, TeeSee,” said Jacen, as the three humans hurried out the door and TC-84 trailed them. Chopper and CB-23 had already returned to the Ghost, and the trusty astromech was firing up the engines. “Please thank him for his generous allowance of use of these accommodations when he returns.”

“Of course, Master Syndulla. It was very nice to have you return here to stay with us, quite like old times. I hope to see you again in the future.”

Jacen smiled at him, in a way that struck Rose as surprisingly sad. “I promise you I will. I owe Mungo a condolence visit.”

“Yes,” said TC-84. “Yes. I suppose that is true. Master Guafri would appreciate that.”

“Oh, and the bottle of Corellian whiskey I left in the upper cabinet is a gift for him,” Jacen added. “Please make sure he finds it when he comes back.”

“Yes, Master Syndulla. Safe travels, all of you! I hope you fare well!”

“Thank you!” Rose called down, and then ran up the gangplank after Jacen.

“Okay, Chopper’s got the coordinates entered,” said Jacen, sliding into his pilot’s seat. “Let’s get through atmo and prepare to jump.”

Rose could see that with Chopper plugged into the data port, and Jacen and Rey working in harmony, the Ghost didn’t need any more help. Instead she retreated up to the gunner’s position, so she had a clear 180 degree view around her, her favorite way to enter hyperspace.

It was because of that 180 degree view that Rose noticed the speeder that pulled up onto the landing pad outside the Guafri flat as they rose into the air, carrying one lone Ubese. 

“We’ve got company!” she shouted down.

“What?” Jacen yelled back as they rose into the air. Rose squinted; she wasn’t sure, but there was something about the figure, cloaked and wrapped with a helmet, that reminded her of the watcher she’d seen on Jakku, which neither Jacen nor Rey had noticed. They didn’t look like the same person—the Ubese was much shorter—but there was something about the attitude of watching that brought that shadowy, half-seen figure to mind for her.

“Keep going,” Rose hollered back, watching the speeder with anxiety. They were already away, gaining altitude fast. The Ubese was watching them go, making no move to get off the speeder, fire a weapon, grab a comm, or react in any other visible way. Rose’s left hand reflexively clenched around her half of the Otomok medallion around her neck. She scanned the skies around them, pivoting her gunner’s chair around to try to see as much as possible. 

Rose spotted the danger at the same time as Rey must have either seen it, or sensed it, for both of them yelled “LOOK OUT!” at the same time.

“WHAT?” hollered Jacen.

“It’s behind us,” yelled Rose, wheeling around the gunner’s position and instinctively strapping in and flicking on her targeting computer. “Starfighter! I’m on it! Get us out of here!”

It was a modified G30 racer similar to one she’d seen Hype Fazon fly at the Colossus, but in a dark red paint scheme that made it difficult to see in the night sky, even with all the light flooding upwards from the lower levels of Coruscant. 

Then it started firing laser cannons at them.

“KARABAST!” cursed Jacen, and then he let out a string of other words Rose didn’t know, likely from worlds she’d never visited. By Jacen’s tone, she could tell they were all curses. He threw the Ghost into a spin, and Rose gritted her teeth, trying to still get off a shot or two. They all went wide.

“We gotta get out of here!” yelled Rey. She had jumped down to the lower gunner position and was now also firing as well, with slightly more success than Rose at clipping the starfighter’s wings. But it had unusually good shields for such a small craft.

“I KNOW!” hollered Jacen, ducking and weaving. “But we gotta stay alive and in one piece to do it!”

As if to make that point, a shot then successfully hit them and the whole ship shuddered. Chopper loudly reported that one of their aft stabilizers had been hit, and Jacen cursed again. 

“ROSE!”

“I’M TRYING!” she yelled back to Jacen, and then just as she said it, she managed to get in a hit. 

“Yeah!” she whooped. “Clipped his left engine!”

“Nice one!” Rey yelled back. 

“Just give me another minute to calculate the hyperspace jump!” yelled Jacen, taking them on another feint, a swooping dive and dodge that had Rose’s heart in her throat, as they wove in and out of some of the spires of taller buildings.

“Doing my BEST!” Rose yelled back, continuing to shoot sporadically. Her biggest difficulty now was not accidentally hitting another ship, or a building, and her caution led to none of her shots actually landing on their pursuer—who seemed to either have terrible aim, or terrible luck.

One torpedo launched from the blue G30 seemed to hit them, and Rose saw it coming and braced—but then felt nothing. “A dud?” she wondered, but didn’t stop to inquire; she aimed and managed to hit the ship’s astromech, sending up a spray of sparks.

“Oh dear,” Rose muttered. “I didn’t mean to do that!” 

She immediately felt bad about hurting the poor droid, even though it seemed to have done the trick; the pilot pulled up and wheeled away, diving back down into Coruscant’s depths. Apparently they knew their ship would be at a serious disadvantage without their astromech to assist them.

“We’re clear!” Rey yelled out. 

“Excellent!” hollered Jacen, angling the Ghost straight up into the inky blackness of space. “Hold on, here we go!”

They rocketed up out of atmo, nearly colliding with a lumbering freighter on the way, and in the process smoothly slipped into hyperspace, stars flattening out into ice-blue streaks, and Rose was able to exhale for the first time since Chopper had interrupted the end of their dinner.

When she felt like her wobbly legs to carry her again, Rose scrambled back down the ladder. CB-23 was still rolling around on the floor unevenly, as if her internal gyroscope had been disrupted, and was whimpering little beeps of distress. BB-8 was considerably calmer, and seemed to have taken to his roll in herding the three upset porgs towards Rose. 

She gathered all three birds in her arms, and made her way up to the cockpit, where she handed Shmi over to Rey, who immediately set about soothing the frightened bird in her lap. Tran and Ackie jumped off Rose and landed on top of Chopper, who began wheeling back and forth, waving his arms and spinning his head around rapidly, frustrated to discover that the porgs wouldn’t budge from the flat top of his head. They just cooed happily. 

“What was that?” Rose asked. “Why were we being followed?”

“I don’t know,” said Rey, “but it wasn’t anyone strong in the Force.”

“Well, you don’t have to have the Force to kill someone with a laser cannon,” Rose said, sounding more miffed than she intended to.

“You’re right,” Rey admitted. “But I didn’t sense them coming.” She bit her lip. “That worries me.”

“I wonder if this has anything to do with that speeder that arrived just as we left,” said Rose. “I thought I recognized the look of that person from Jakku.”

Rey and Jacen exchanged a worried glance. “So we’re being followed, and tracked,” said Jacen. “And there’s a bounty on us. Great.” He groaned and sank further down in the pilot’s chair. “Mom’s going to kill me.”

“Oh,” said Rose, narrowing her eyes at Jacen and folding her arms. “You think that’s the biggest problem? Because of your stupid smuggling, we were all shot at and nearly killed!”

“Nearly killed. Nearly is the operative word here,” Jacen tried. “We weren’t killed. That’s the important thing.”

“We weren’t killed because I was manning the gun!” Rose retorted. “You were all lucky I was already in the gunner’s turret on top of the Ghost and paying attention!”

“Hey, don’t forget that pretty sweet flying I was doing!” Jacen shot back.

“The pilot didn’t want to kill us,” Rey interrupted.

“What?” said Jacen and Rose at the same time.

“Think about those targets. They weren’t shooting to kill. No crucial systems, no engines.”

“Yeah, because of my fancy flying!”

Rose didn’t even try to repress her snort. “So you’ve said.”

“It was a team effort,” Rey placated them. “Look. We have three and a half days to Ryloth. Let’s not spend them at each other’s throats, okay?”

“Okay,” said Rose, glancing over at Jacen. He said nothing, but he nodded.

“It might not even be about smuggling,” Rey said.

“What?”

“Rose, think about it. It could be about me. If they picked up the trail on Jakku, and figured out we left on the Ghost, and then someone traced the Ghost back to the Syndulla family and knew about Jacen’s connection to the Guafris, maybe that’s it. Maybe someone is trying to find me.”

“Why put out a bounty on me, then?” Jacen asked. “Why not just put it out on you?”

“You might be an easier way to get to me,” Rey replied bluntly. “Besides, the Guild has already notified me that several Sith acolytes and First Order holdouts tried to put a bounty on my head. The Guild refused to take it, and put out the word that I’d probably kill any freelancers who tried, and the Guild would take it as a personal offense and hunt them down.”

“Wow,” said Rose. “What did you do to get that kind of protection?”

Rey shrugged. “I did someone a favor,” she replied evasively. “They owe me one.”

“That’s another story I want to hear sometime,” Jacen said, shaking his head in wonder. “But I still don’t understand why I suddenly have people hot on my trail trying to kill me.”

“Or capture you alive,” Rey suggested.

“Huh,” said Rose. She turned to Chopper. “When was that holorecording made?”

Chopper checked his logs; it was sent as soon as it was finished.

“Jacen,” Rose said, “is that GrubHutt account in your name? Could ordering food with it have been what gave our position away?”

“No,” he replied. “It’s encrypted. All GrubHutt accounts are under code names, and the only one who knew about that was Karva. It was a gift from her. Nobody else would know about it.”

“Huh, so much for that theory,” Rose sighed. “I thought maybe that was how they tracked us. It feels like too much of a coincidence that you do something traceable for the first time and then, bam, the bounty hunters know about you and we’re being shot at.”

“I just hope I’m not bringing too much danger home to Ryloth,” Jacen sighed.

Chopper laughed, and reminded him that his mother, and his grandfather, had been dealing with danger since long before he was born, and that they could take care of themselves.

Rose suddenly realized that she was going to be meeting Jacen's mother, and sister, very soon, and that she still didn't know exactly what was going on between them--except that she'd kissed him like she hadn't kissed anyone in a very, very long time. From the look on his face just then as his eyes met hers, she realized he was thinking the exact same thing. 

Three and a half days was a lot of time...as long as they could somehow get away from the porgs, the droids, and one overly-perceptive Jedi on a tiny, tiny ship.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose, Rey and Jacen head towards Ryloth. Jacen is struggling with Rey's Jedi lessons, and the tension finally boils over. Rose offers a fresh perspective and finally gets some answers from Jacen about his past and how he feels about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been five months since I last posted! Work got insane, and quarantine really did a number on my mental health. But I haven't stopped thinking about this story, and I am determined to finish it as I planned. Any comments or even just reads really help to keep me motivated! If you read it earlier and have come back to see what happens next, thank you so much! I promise to stay more regular from now on.

Rose was nearly crawling out of her skin by the end of the third day on the Ghost. It seemed like every time she turned around, there was a droid in her way, or a porg cooing for attention, but never Jacen. He spent all his time in the cargo bay, working on Jedi drills with Rey, or meditating on the Jedi holocron. He took his meals alone in his room. She had to conclude he was avoiding her, and she wasn't sure if it was because he was still angry at her, or she was angry at him, or they just didn't know what to say to each other. Every time their eyes met for even a second, the air around them grew thick with a charge, and Rose wasn't sure if it was just attraction, or anger, or fear, or something else. 

On the second morning on the Ghost, Rose nearly ran right into Jacen when she was coming out of the 'fresher, wearing nothing but a towel. She squeaked and dashed into her room across the hallway, slamming the door shut so fast she caught her towel in it. 

"I'm sorry," Jacen called through the door.

"It's fine," Rose gasped back. "I just didn't know anyone else was awake."

Silence. Then a cough, as if Jacen was about to say something. Then he walked away as Rose slumped against the door, and then dropped the towel, resolving to get it back out of the door after she'd finished changing. Two of the porgs, Tran and Ackie, squacked up at her from the bed.

"I don't know, I really don't know," she said to them.

It wasn't the only time that Rose found herself talking to the porgs for lack of other company. If it wasn’t for the fact that Rey still ate with her in the tiny common area, Rose would have felt completely excluded. Nothing could keep Rey from showing up at regular intervals to eat, even when the Resistance was scraping by on the poorest of rations. Now she was an even more enthusiastic fellow diner, sliding into the banquet with a grin on her face to joyously scarf down the fresh rations that Chopper had wisely stocked during the beginning of their stay on Coruscant, when they were off exploring the Jedi temple. 

Rose had never cooked much, but the meals on Coruscant that reminded her of Haysian Prime cuisine had unlocked something in her. She found herself pulling together sandwiches using unfamiliar meat with spices that tasted of childhood, mixing together condiments to approximate the spicy-sweet complexity of her mother's sauce on fried yip-tip, and trying her hand at making pickled veg--the quick simple kind, that didn't require fermentation or months of storage. CB-23 proved surprisingly helpful in her quest to search through available holonet files to hunt down clues as to what she was missing. A mention in an old commerce report of shipments of certain herbs and spices to the Otomok system, a reference in a lewd Haysian joke to a particular long cylindrical veg, a description of a menu at an Old Republic diplomatic event and the various dishes prepared for the Haysian diplomats--clues as scant as these helped Rose start to piece together an approximation of the dishes and meals she was missing. At one point, after she just about got a sweet dessert porridge with grains in it to taste nearly right, Rose almost broke down in tears. She could feel her grandmother's hand on her shoulder.

Yet still, Rose found herself lonely more often than not, even as she threw herself into trying to recreate recipes and occasionally doing minor upgrades to the Ghost, always with Chopper's assistance and permission. She tried not to dwell on wondering what had gone wrong with Jacen, and that incredible kiss, or worrying too much about whoever might be following the Ghost, and who they really wanted. (Rose wasn't sure if she was a bit insulted by the thought that of all them, she was the least worth chasing across the galaxy. Even BB-8 had once been the target of a hunt by the First Order and Resistance.) Rose spent a lot of time talking to the porgs, particularly Shmi, who Rey seemed to have forgotten about entirely as she threw herself into teaching Jacen everything she could. 

The training, however, was not going well. Right after breakfast on the fourth day, their last day of travels, Rey and Jacen finally lost their tempers in spectacular fashion.

“C’mon!” Rey yelled from the cargo hold, startling Rose so much she dropped a pot to the floor.

“It’s too fast!” yelled Jacen back. “You can’t expect me to deflect every single blaster bolt!”

“How do you think I’ve stayed alive?” Rey snapped. 

Chopper teased Jacen that he was as not as fast as his father had been, and Rose could see Jacen taking deep, angry breaths at that jab.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Rose muttered to herself, and Ackie, who had flown into the empty pot when it fell on the floor, her beak filled with stray wires. Rose wrestled them away from Ackie, and mentally made a note to figure out where they belonged before Chopper found out and started talking about his right to terminate sentients smaller than him again. She plucked the errant porg out of the pot, deposited her on CB-23’s flat top, and headed down to the cargo hold.

“You can’t only deflect SOME of the shots and think you’ll be okay!” Rey yelled at Jacen as Rose burst through the door, looking over the balcony at the Force users below her.

"NONE OF THEM HIT ME!" Jacen hollered, throwing his head back in frustration. He tossed his extinguished lightsaber to the floor, where it rolled and came to a stop before Chopper.

The lights in the cargo hold flickered. 

"The weapon of a Jedi should be treated with more respect!"

"According to you, I'm no Jedi!" 

Jacen stalked towards Rey, and Rose noted with alarm that although he was far taller than Rey, something about the energy the younger girl held, something about the fire in her eyes, made them seem far more evenly matched. Rose noticed how Rey's feet started moving from a defensive stance to an attack position, almost automatically, though her saber was turned off and her hands hung at her side. Chopper wisely scooped up Jacen's saber and flew to the upper level next to Rose, getting out of the way of the two angry Force wielders.

"No," Rey snapped. "No, you're not a Jedi. Just ducking and weaving isn't good enough. Dodging blaster bolts wasn't the lesson. The lesson isn't to EVADE, it's to redirect the shots back at ME." 

"What, is that another Dark side teaching?" scoffed Jacen. "Always be ready to kill? That's the only way to win?"

The lights dimmed again, and Rose noticed a slight rock in the ship, and then it began to list slightly to one side. "You guys..." she said, warningly. She recognized the charged, staticky feeling in the air as coming before one of Rey's explosions of rage, which were always terrifying whether she used the Force or not.

Rey advanced further on Jacen, and he actually backed up several steps, right into the wall. He was starting to look alarmed instead of just angry.

"You should be more careful who you accuse of using the Dark side," Rey hissed, her eyes narrowed and teeth clenched, her left hand curled into a tight fist. "You throw around those words like they mean nothing. You have no IDEA what you're talking about."

“That is IT!” Rose barked, loudly enough that they both froze and looked up at her. Neither had realized she was there.

The lights suddenly blazed back at full strength, and the ship righted itself. Rey's shoulders slumped, and Rose found herself able to take a full breath again.

Rose tried to infuse calm into her next words.

"I know it's good to be prepared, and it's important for Jacen to get better in the Force. But maybe a break will help. You've both been training non-stop for days, ever since we got to Coruscant. Even Jedi must get to have some downtime, right?"

Jacen grinned up at her. "Rose to my rescue," he said, and that smile had all the warmth in it she'd been missing this whole trip to Ryloth. For a moment, Rose was transfixed by his intense stare, those irresistible blue eyes framed by his unusual green eyebrows, the mischievous smile curling across his face, the way he was wearing only a thin, formfitting tan tunic and tight brown leggings that hugged his muscles.

“I think Rose has a point,” sighed Rey. “You’re right. We shouldn't get burned out before we get to Ryloth. Who knows what we'll find there. I’m going to my room.” She climbed up the ladder and headed back into the main cabin.

Jacen slumped down against the wall, leaning his head back. Rose climbed down the ladder, suddenly feeling very aware that her simple red jumpsuit was streaked with splashes of brine from her earlier attempt at pickling a strange green tuber veg. She walked over and sat next to him, but with a little bit of space between them, just enough so that their shoulders and legs weren't actually touching.

"You smell good," Jacen said, his eyes suddenly so close, right there. 

"I was pickling," Rose explained. "Chopper told me the veg was native to Ryloth. I thought a jar of pickles would be an appropriate gift for your mother, to thank her for her hospitality."

"You didn't have to do that," said Jacen, his voice getting even lower and softer.

"I wanted to."

"It was sweet of you," he said. "You're always sweet. And so kind. So willing to see the best in everyone." 

Rose could feel her face heating, and for a moment, she thought Jacen was leaning in for a kiss.

"I need to explain some things," he said, abruptly pulling back.

"Like what?" she asked warily. "If you're trying to let me down..."

"No, no!" Jacen shook his head vigorously, and ran his hands through his hair the way he did when he got flustered. Rose was captivated, yet again, by the sudden glimpse of the green tips of his ears poking out from underneath his green locks. "That's not what I meant at all. I'm sorry. It's just that...I should explain about why we were smuggling spice."

"Oh. Well, it's really none of my business," Rose hedged.

"No, I want to explain," Jacen said, and then, miraculously, he took her hand in his, and turned to face her, head on. "My mom had some dodgy contacts from her days in the Rebellion--it was impossible to fight the Empire and stay on the right side of the law--and one of them hired me to do a few odd jobs. It was all strictly on the up-and-up, but I knew Hondo had some shady dealings. Eventually I got into them as a way to cover for running missions for the Resistance. But I could have found another way. I know it was a mistake. I wasn't thinking straight after the Hosnian cataclysm. I would have taken anything that was the first chance to strike back against the First Order, and there was Hondo, telling me that stealing a shipment of spice would get us the profits to bribe one of the Hutt slavers into letting his latest batch of captives go, and that way I could rescue them all and not just the former New Republic senator, and...well, one thing led to another, and it always seemed to be for a good cause, or to pay someone off so we could get on to the next mission. So that's how I sort of fell into it. Chopper kept warning me, but I didn't listen."

"Hondo Onaka?" asked Rose, a smile spreading across her face. "The pirate?"

"You know him?"

"Let's just say that there was a point when he was using the Millennium Falcon." Jacen raised his eyebrow and Rose shook her head. "It was on Batuu. Less said about that time the better; it wasn't one of our more successful missions, and our cover got blown pretty fast." She grimaced. "Our friend Finn infiltrated the Star Destroyer disguised as a Stormtrooper and, let's just say, it didn't go well."

"Finn, your...ex?"

Rose sighed. "I wondered how much of that you heard. You could hardly call him my ex. We had a moment, that was all, and I made a fool of myself trying to make it more than it was. He wasn't interested."

Jacen shook his head. "He was the fool," he declared fervently.

"It was just one kiss," said Rose, unable to look anywhere but down at her hands. "You can't blow one kiss out of proportion."

"Depends on the kiss," said Jacen.

Rose locked eyes with him. "How do you know if it means something?" 

Jacen said nothing. He just leaned over and kissed her again, taking her so by surprise that she never even closed her eyes. It was short, and soft, and sweet.

"It meant something," he said, looking at her very seriously. 

"Oh," said Rose, a bit dazed. Then her sense came flooding back and she scrambled to her feet. "If that was the case, why have you been avoiding me?"

"You weren't exactly seeking me out!"

"You could have come to eat with me and Rey." She couldn't quite keep the hurt out of her voice.

Jacen shook his head. "That's my fault. I would get so fed up with her I needed to go to my room and calm down. I should have thought how it would look to you." He stood up as well, unfolding his muscular height and leaving Rose to crane her neck up at him. "The food was all delicious, by the way...I never did thank you, and I should have. Besides, I thought you were angry at me still. And I couldn't blame you."

"Well, I'm not angry now. I can understand...we all did things for the Resistance that we're not proud of. Except maybe Rey."

"She doesn't seem to have any regrets or doubts," said Jacen grimly. "I've never met someone so driven by self-righteousness."

Rose glanced up and was relieved to see that Rey had closed the door behind her when she'd left the cargo bay. They were alone, so she was safe to say, "When you're the last Jedi, nobody really holds you accountable. And Rey's mistakes all seem to have worked out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she almost killed Chewie--that's Chewbacca, our Wookie friend--because she was fighting with Kylo Ren. But luckily Chewie was on another transport, not the one she exploded."

Jacen huffed out a long breath. "I've run spice, I've smuggled other things I didn't even always know what they were, but I've never actually killed anyone."

"Yes, but it worked out in the end. Whatever Rey does, like blowing up a troop transport, or running away from her friends and going off on her own to try to get a Sith wayfinder--don't ask why--or even going alone to confront the Supreme Leader, it all works out. Always. Well, almost always." Rose was brought short as she remembered the one time it didn't work out, when Rey went charging after Palpatine on her own, and the end result was Ben Solo dying. But she couldn't betray Rey's confidence and give that away, even if it would have helped Jacen understand why she was so touchy about his constant accusations that she was tainted by the Dark side. 

"If that's how everyone sees her," Jacen said slowly, "I can understand why she's having so much trouble training me. I keep challenging her."

"Rey doesn't mind a challenge. But she's afraid of what you see in her."

"The Dark side?"

"Yes...and that you see her as not being like your father, a real, properly trained Jedi."

Jacen laughed. "He had his own issues...he ran away as a padawan and escaped Order 66, when the Jedi were slaughtered. So he didn't exactly complete his formal training either."

"Well, Rey doesn't know that!" Rose suddenly realized her voice had risen, and she quickly brought it back down again.

"You have to see it from her perspective. She just sees you, the son of a Jedi, friends with some of the last Jedi, and then there's her, who grew up as a nobody on a desert planet, forgotten. The only family she has is all dead. Her grandfather had her parents killed and then she killed him. And now we're going to your home, to meet your mother and sister. All the things she doesn't have." Rose felt her eyes well up. "Can you understand why it's all so hard for her? Rey's never trained anyone before. She won't even train the Force-sensitive Stormtroopers who rebelled before Exegol. She's afraid of it. She might be hard on you, but she's even harder on herself."

"She told you all this?"

"Well, not exactly. She's never told me anything about your training or how she felt about it. Rey isn't good at sharing. She's kind of closed off--I think BB-8 was her first friend and she only met him a day or so before Starkiller! But I know her. I can see what's going on."

Jacen leaned down until his face was even with Rose's. "You're too good for us," he said huskily. "I wish I had talked to you sooner. For a lot of reasons."

"Yes," said Rose.

"So, um, about that. About meeting my family..."

"Yes?"

Jacen reached forward and, cradling her face in his hand, kissed her again, slower and deeper this time, dragging it out. Rose fell into it, rising up on her tiptoes, clutching at his shoulders and glorying in squeezing his muscles as she'd longed to do since she'd first met him. Jacen twisted them around, pushing her against the wall and cradling her in his arms, fierce and tender all at the same time. 

He broke off just as Rose was starting to forget how to breathe. "I want you to know where you stand with me," he said, utterly earnest. "I know we just met...and we don't know where this is going...but my mom doesn't miss anything. She'll figure out you're important to me. My sister probably will too. Don't let them pressure you or make you feel like you have to answer any questions. You don't have to try to impress them or please them. Just be yourself."

"So...where IS this going?"

"Where do you want it to go?" Jacen suddenly looked fifteen years younger, nervous and shy and totally uncertain. "I mean, I don't want to pressure you or anything, and I know I just really screwed up by being so weird the past few days..."

"Yes, you did," Rose said, unable to keep from smiling at the same time. "But I won't hold it against you forever."

Jacen kissed her again, and again, and they started to melt into each other. He broke off and said, "Oh, but just to be clear...I shouldn't tell my mom you're my girlfriend. She won't leave you alone."

"Oh," said Rose, feeling completely off-kilter yet again. She stared at him, but nowhere in those deep blue eyes could she find any hint of deception. "Am I...are you thinking of me as..."

"No! I mean--not yet--I just mean--sorry, Rose, I just want you to understand I'm not, I'm not a casual sort of guy. I mean, not that I can't do casual, just that I...oh, this isn't one of those...I'm not a Lando Calrissian is what I'm trying to say! Not a playboy! I like you!"

Rose laughed at him as he flailed his arms, looking sweetly goofy. She filed away for future reference that apparently Lando Calrissian had once been a playboy, which was hard to imagine, given how sweetly paternal he had been with Jannah as they both looked for their respective families. 

"Look, I just want to get my head out of the happabore's butt and tell you that I like you," he said.

Rose beamed up at him. "I think you just did," she said. 

Jacen checked the chrono on his wrist. "We should still have a good two hours before we get to Ryloth," he said. He looked around. "For once, no porgs, no droids, no Rey..."

Rose laughed. "The cargo bay, how romantic!" 

Jacen raised an eyebrow and walked over to a switch on the wall, shutting off half the lights. The whole time he kept his right hand in Rose's. She felt a bit as if she were in a dream or at least a happy daze. Jacen pulled one of their supply crates up against the wall underneath the balcony, where they couldn't be seen by anyone immediately coming in the door, and led her over to it. 

"Now where were we?" he whispered, as they snuggled close to each other.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Jacen enjoy their private time in the Ghost's cargo bay, but all too soon they're coming in to Ryloth. Rey helps Rose get ready to meet Jacen's mom and sister. They land, and Jacen privately admits to Rose why he's been reluctant to come back to the planet. Rose meets Jacen's family for the first time, but the focus isn't on her; it's on the threat posed by whoever is pursing them and searching for the Ghost.

It seemed like both forever, and too fast, before Chopper started banging on the door. Jacen groaned, and Rose laughed, struggling to untangle herself from his arms. He pulled her back and gave her another smooch on her cheek for good measure. 

“We really should get back out there,” she said softly, blinking a little in the dim light. Everything seemed so hazy and warm. Rose was drunk on happiness; she could float to the ceiling on glee bubbling up inside her. All she could see was Jacen’s cocky grin, and his blue eyes, so sincere and soft. He leaned in again for another soft, sweet kiss, his left hand tracing up her bare arm and over her collarbone, ghosting down towards her gaping neckline, dipping beneath the fabric—

Chopper started banging again, adding in a threat to tell Rose EVERY SINGLE EMBARRASSING THING Jacen had ever done, including the first time he met Princess Leia, and—

“SWITCH OFF CHOPPER!” Jacen bellowed, directing a few choice curses toward the door overhead. “IF YOU COME THROUGH THAT DOOR I’LL DEACTIVATE YOU!”

Chopper sassed back, but left. Rose collapsed into giggles, slumping against Jacen’s shounder.

“What?”

“The way you talk to Chopper. Like he’s your sibling or something. It’s so cute.”

“You’re cute,” Jacen mumbled, burying his face back in the crook of her neck, worrying at it as he plucked at yet another of her shirt buttons. She took another deep inhale

“No, no,” Rose chided gently. “We can’t show up on Ryloth in front of your family looking…debauched.”

“And Chopper WOULD do that,” Jacen sighed. “He is perfectly capable of locking us in here, flying the rest of the way to Ryloth, and in front of my mother opening the cargo bay door to dump us out.”

“So…what was he teasing you about? What happened with Leia Organa?”

Jacen groaned. “I guess I should tell you before Chopper does. I may have…peed myself. I was FOUR. It’s the ONLY time I’ve ever done anything at all like that!”

Rose laughed so hard her sides ached. “That’s…so…adorable!” she huffed, between gasps.

“YOU’RE adorable,” Jacen mumbled, pulling her back against his chest.

She breathed in his scent, rich and fresh like a forest after a rainstorm. Rose ran her fingers over the green tips of his ears and he shivered.

“I never should have told you how sensitive they are,” he sighed, his head lolling back. “Gives you too much power over me.”

“Yes, well, if you want more of that…” Rose jumped up and danced a few steps back, just out of reach. “Then you need to make yourself presentable so we don’t scandalize your mother and sister.”

“Fine, fine,” sighed Jacen, shaking his head with a smile. As he grabbed his shirt, Rose almost regretted watching his slip it over his head, but the grin he gave her, and the smirk as he tucked it into his pants—which were visibly tented—was worth it. 

“Ready to meet my mom and sister?” he asked.

“Yes, absolutely,” Rose replied. They headed for the ladder, but Jacen let out a slight gasp and a wince, arching his back.

“What is it?”

Jacen sighed. “Erm, I guess I’m a little old to be romancing in cargo bays.”

“Next time we’ll use your bed,” Rose said, and then gasped in horror as she realized what she’d said.

“That is—I didn’t mean—”

Jacen laughed. “I know what you mean,” he said, turning to drop a kiss on her nose before he climbed the ladder. “I wasn’t reading too much into it. Not trying to rush you.” 

“Thank you,” Rose said. 

Jacen led the way to the ladder and Rose scrambled up after him. When Jacen opened the door, Chopper was nowhere to be found—presumably up in the cockpit—and Rey was emerging from her quarters, wearing a fresh outfit and looking considerably happier and more relaxed than she had when she’d stomped off from their training session. 

“We’re going to come out of hyperspace in ten standard minutes. Hey! Where’s the lightsaber?”

“Huh?” said Jacen blankly, then he slapped his forehead. “Oh, right, the training lightsaber! Sorry, I left it down there. Do you want me to get it?”

Rey took a deep breath, swallowing down something before she put a strained smile on her face. “Yes please,” she said. “It’s Luke Skywalker’s old lightsaber.” 

“Oh, I didn’t know,” shrugged Jacen, sliding past Rose to heading back down into the cargo bay. “That’s important, I guess?” he called back.

Rey looked as if she was struggling to decide both what to say, and if she should say it. She bit her lip and turned to Rose instead. 

“Rose, I think you should let me redo your hair,” Rey said. “You look like…you’ve been busy.”

Rose could feel her face heating uncomfortably. “Erm. Thank you.” 

Rey laughed. “And you’ve…um, we need to cover up your neck a bit.”

Rose’s hand flew up to her neck, where she could just feel a slight bruise rising. “Oh. Well. Um, I don’t really have much makeup. My friend Torra was showing me how to use makeup when we hung out on the Colossus, but…I don’t have much myself.”

“Never mind,” said Rey, pulling Rose after her into her quarters. “Just wear a scarf. I might have something that would work with your outfit.”

“Hurry up with the wardrobe change,” called Jacen as he passed by, tossing the lightsaber in the doorway as he passed. Rey caught it in her left hand without even looking, and carefully slid it into one of the drawers underneath the bunk beds as she opened the other one. 

“I don’t know a lot about clothes,” Rey admitted, sorting through her collection of wraps and scarves, mostly in shades of black, gray, brown, and white. “Would a white one go with it?”

Rose frowned, and then grabbed a brown scarf that was a warmer, richer color. “This color is sort of the same intensity and saturation,” she murmured, tossing it on and peering in the mirror, considering how it complimented her red blouse. 

Rey then took over adjusting and tying it, before directing her to sit down on the bottom bunk. As Rose settled down, Shmi curled up in her lap, and Rose pet the cooing porg while the other girl quickly brushed out her hair.

Rose looked at Rey’s reflection in the mirror. Rey’s bright white outfit would surely stand out in stark contrast to Ryloth’s gorgeous sunset-colored sandy landscape. But her elaborate black scarf, with its elegant shimmer and threads of gold running through it, arranged around her neck and casually pulled up over her head like a loose hood, barely covered her hair. It made a striking contrast, and Rose wondered, not for the first time, if the amount of black and gray in Rey’s wardrobe these days was a response to the propaganda images of her all in white that the Resistance had popularized.

“You’re wearing a lot of scarves and wraps these days too,” Rose said.

“Mmhm,” Rey agreed, her eyes intent on the braid she was weaving through Rose’s relatively short, but strong, black hair. 

“Do you wear them to hide from everyone? To cover up?”

Rey’s hands stilled for a moment, and her eyes met Rose’s, the two women framed by the mirror with the fading multi-colored mosaic spray painted into the opposite wall behind them.

“To hide what?” she asked softly.

“That you’re scared of being the last Jedi.”

Rey considered it for a moment, and shook her head. “It’s not that exactly. But…we should talk. Not now, but when we have more time. Alone. Later.”

“Okay. I promise, I’ll listen.”

Rey grinned back at her in the mirror. “Thanks for talking to Jacen about me,” she said.

“You heard that?”

“Oh, no, it’s just that his energy was so different when you came back.” Rey Force-floated a few pins from the drawer beneath her bunk—Rose rolled her eyes at the gratuitous use of Jedi tricks—and Rey started to carefully fasten off the braids. 

“He was a lot calmer and more accepting,” Rey said at last. “Jacen’s not the only one who can pick up on emotional energy, you know.”

“Right,” said Rose, suddenly feeling a flare of panic. She’d nearly forgotten. Jacen could feel emotions, even emotional echoes from years ago. Her feelings for him were all laid so bare…he knew exactly what she felt and thought. She suddenly felt very exposed.

“Rose, he doesn’t need the Force to tell how you feel about him, or that he likes you,” Rey said, very seriously. “It’s obvious.”

“Is it?”

At that moment, CB-23 rolled in, her turquoise-and-pink head nodding back and forth vigorously as she loudly affirmed, in binary, that it was obvious even to a droid.

Rose clapped her hand to her mouth. “I think I need to use the ‘fresher and splash some water on my face,” she said faintly. She was blushing so ferociously she felt as if her face were on fire. 

“You look wonderful,” said Rey, meeting her eyes in the mirror and giving her shoulders an encouraging squeeze. “His family will love you.”

Rose turned around and gave Rey a fierce hug. Rey hissed a bit in pain, and Rose withdrew quickly.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I hurt you—”

“No, no, it’s an old wound,” said Rey, rubbing her shoulder. 

“The one from the battle with Snoke’s guards?” Rose asked, watching her carefully. “The one that was healed on Exegol, but it’s been coming back, ever since we visited Jakku?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe you should have a doctor look at it.”

“I don’t think there’s any doctors that would know what to do with this,” Rey said grimly. “I can’t picture Dr. Kalonia knowing what to do with a scar that vanished when someone brought you back from the dead with the power of the light side of the Force.”

Rose had to agree with that. Just then, they shuddered out of hyperspace and Jacen hollered back from the cockpit that they were coming down to Ryloth. 

“You’d better use the ‘fresher while you can,” Rey said, nudging Rose, and that was all the reminder she needed before she went to freshen up, and splash some cool water on her face, before meeting Jacen’s mother and sister for the first time. 

She wondered if they would be able to take one look at her and tell how important she was to Jacen. If that were the case, Rose secretly hoped they’d share it with her. One lovely interlude in the cargo bay was not enough to banish all the insecurities and uncertainties of the past few days. She definitely had strong feelings for Jacen, but if her experiences during the war had taught her anything, it was how much it hurt to have hope taken away from you.

\----------

The Tarkona home on Ryloth, a magnificent spired round structure, set among gorgeous canyons and vistas, lit orange in the setting sun, took Rose’s breath away. It was nothing like her own childhood home, all modern boxy structures on smog-covered, industrial Hays Minor. Rose tried not to gape, but she and Rey shared a wide-eyed glance. 

Jacen was worrying his bottom lip—Rose tried not to stare—as he set the Ghost down in the most perfect, delicate landing she had ever seen him do. 

Jacen took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair, as he did when he was nervous. “Okay,” he said. “We’re here.” 

“You’re nervous to come home?” Rose said quietly, underneath the clamor that Chopper and Rey were making, arguing as they herded out the motley crew of flustered porgs and noisy rollie droids. 

Jacen nodded jerkily. “I haven’t been back here since…right after Karva died. I spent a good two or three standard months back home. I could barely leave my room. Finally my mom gave me a kick in the pants—metaphorically—and got me back out the door. That’s when I joined up with the Resistance. It was almost two years ago, but…I can still feel the echoes. Of how I felt. And it’s only going to get worse inside the house.” 

His shoulders were hunched, and his blue eyes fixed on something far away.

“Yes, but—it’s your home, right? You should have happier memories of growing up here.”

Jacen shook his head, setting off towards the exit in the cargo bay, though they were well behind Chopper and the rest. “I grew up on the Ghost. Mom didn’t marry Elav until I was almost fourteen. And they didn’t move here until Nessa was, I don’t know, five or six, I guess, just after Elav’s grandfather died and left him the house. By then I was on my own.”

“So the longest you’ve ever been here…”

“…was when I was mourning Karva,” Jacen confirmed. He stopped in the hallway and touched the door to his own quarters, as if drawing strength from the familiar metal frame. “The Ghost feels like home more than anywhere on Ryloth does…especially this house.”

Rose reached out and found his hand, and squeezed. “I understand,” she said quietly. If anyone ever asked me to go back to Crait again—that was the battle right after Paige died—I don’t think I could do it. I never want to see those salt flats again in my life.”

She was surprised at the venom in her own voice. She had never consciously formulated that thought before.

Jacen regarded her thoughtfully. “You really do understand me,” he said, wonderingly. “You’ve known me for such a short time, but you really do understand me.”

Rose could feel the blush staining her cheeks, and heating her all the way down her neck, covered by Rey’s borrowed scarf. Jacen telling her she understood him felt bigger than Rose knew what to do with. But she couldn’t sit with that feeling and try to understand it—or wonder what sort of emotions he could pick up from her, right then. Instead she just followed him down the hall, and out the cargo bay into the glare of the setting sun.

“JACEN!” yelled a yellow teenage Twi’lek, rushing at him and hugging him fiercely. “I haven’t seen you in AGES!” 

As Rose’s eyes adjusted, she could see how this excited, very mature teenage girl was clearly the same as in Jacen’s holo, but a few years older and more grown-up. 

“Hey, little sis.” Jacen returned the hug, and over her head addressed his mother. “Mom, these are my friends, Rey, the last Jedi, and Rose Tico, former commander in the Resistance.”

Chopper, of course, added his own perspective.

“Chopper, don’t be rude,” Hera chided him. “I’m sure the birds and rollies are friends too.” From the way the old astromech rolled right over to Hera, and she gave him a little pat on his top antenna dish, Rose understood that there was a very old and special bond between Twi’lek and droid.

Rose recognized Jacen’s mother from the holo he had shown her: an older light green Twi’lek with pale green markings on her lekku, who was standing with her arms folded at the edge of the landing area. Rose wondered if Hera always wore her flight goggles and flight suit, or if that was just the outfit that felt most comfortable to her after a lifetime of hours logged in the sky. Another, much smaller ship—which Rose recognized as a modified YV-series light freighter, old but in excellent shape—was positioned to the side. Rose guessed that was Hera’s ship when the Ghost was away with Jacen. Hera didn’t seem like the kind of pilot to go without a craft for long.

Right now, Hera primarily looked concerned, and was carrying a blaster in a way that reminded Rose of her fellow soldiers and the stormtroopers they had fought. The older Twi’lek woman had clearly seen combat and knew how to handle herself. Rose could see a few other Twi’lek in the growing shadows around the landing platform, patrolling with weapons, and a glance upward revealed several snipers positioned in the windows, guarding the platform. 

Hera smiled with joy and relief as she hugged her son. The kindness in her voice when she softly welcomed him back lit a sudden spark of jealously in Rose’s heart. Then Rose looked over at Rey’s stony expression, and was reminded of how fortunate she was to have known, and grown up, with her parents. At least she had wonderful memories with both her parents, which was more than either Rey or Jacen had. Rose suddenly realized her right hand had drifted up to press against her Haysian smelt necklace where it lay hidden under her shirt.

“Welcome to our home,” Hera said to them. “And who are these little friends?” she asked, tilting her head towards Shmi and Ackie, who were riding on top of CB-23’s flat top, and Tran, who was fluttering nearby.

“We call the birds porgs,” Rey explained. She scooped Shmi up in her arms and stepped forward, offering her up to Hera. As Hera gently stroked the porg’s belly with just the tips of her fingers, Shmi closed her eyes and cooed happily. 

“I’ve seen a lot of planets, and a lot of creatures, but I’ve never seen a porg,” Hera said.

“They’re native to Ahch-To,” Rey explained. “They sort of…took over the Millennium Falcon when we landed there, and they’ve been hanging out on Resistance bases and ships ever since. Rose rescued these three from a fueling station.”

“Well, not exactly rescued—more like relocated,” Rose explained. “They look innocent, but be careful. They’ll go after any wiring that isn’t tied down.”

“Understood,” Hera said, dropping her hand. “So, Rey…how did you happen to meet up with my son? I would think the last Jedi would have more important things to do than be flying around with a wanted man.”

Jacen groaned. “Mom, we don’t even know if I’m the one they’re looking for?”

“That’s right. It’s my ship, my ship that has never been found or captured, that you made a target. And it’s not even war time.”

“See, Mom!” said Nessa. “I told you that I should have gotten my turn on the Ghost. I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble!” 

“Nessa,” said their mother, in that warning tone that is universal to mothers everywhere. Suddenly Rose felt horribly homesick, a lump in her throat. She could almost see her own mother, arms folded, using exactly that tone when little Rose was bothering Paige and preventing her from finishing her lessons. She tried to blink away her tears quickly.

As if the porg could sense Rose’s agitation, Ackie immediately flew up and perched on Rose’s shoulder, burrowing her head into the crook of Rose’s neck and cooing as Rose fluffed her feathers.

“Mo-om, c’mon! If you’d let ME borrow the Ghost, instead of Jacen, I wouldn’t have gotten in so much trouble!”

“I’m the oldest!” Jacen argued. “And I’ve been doing important work for the Resistance!”

Nessa snorted, and Hera’s eyebrows went up skeptically as she pursed her lips.

“Oh, really?” asked Hera, in a deceptively mild tone. “Then why is it that just two rotations ago someone from the Resistance contacted me to see if I knew where you were?”

“Are you sure it was really from the Resistance?” asked Jacen, at the same time that Rose said, “Who was it?”

“Someone named Connix?” said Hera. 

“Kaydel Connix?” gasped Rose. “Lieutenant Connix? She called?”

“Well, that’s what she said her name was. I saved the holo. I thought it was safer not to respond.”

“If it really is Kaydel,” said Rose, “we know her. I mean, Rey and I do.”

BB-8 also reminded them that he knew Kaydel as well, since she was one of Poe’s friends. 

“Well, you can help authenticate the holo,” Hera told BB-8, who rolled back and forth and whistled in pleasure at being appreciated. “We can’t be too careful with people coming to look for Jacen. Or any of you,” she added, glancing at Rey and Rose. “Ketsu told me it was a bounty specifically on the Ghost. If you’ve been travelling together for a while, it’s possible you’re the ones they’re looking for.”

“We’re not so easy to take down,” Rey said ominously. Her hand settled on the hilt of her lightsaber. 

“Ah,” said Hera. Something about her raised eyebrow and assessing glance made Rose think that Jacen’s mother saw more than Rey intended. Then Hera turned that searching glance on her, and Rose tried hard not to look away or flush again. She tried to just smile and not look accidentally guilty.

“Come on in,” Hera said. “It’s nearly time for supper, and you still haven’t met Elav, my husband. There’s plenty of room for all of you to stay in the house; you don’t have to sleep on the Ghost.”

Rey looked as if she was about to argue, but stopped. They all followed Hera into the house, with a few of the other Twi’lek guards sliding out of the shadows and following them into the house, though Rose spotted at least one staying behind. She had a feeling there were more she couldn’t see.

Clearly, Hera Syndulla-Tarkona had meant it when she promised her son they could deal with any trouble he brought back to Ryloth. They were complete strangers, now under her protection, because she would clearly do anything for her son, and they were his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hera Syndulla, voiced by the amazing Vanessa Marshall (the source for Nessa's name!) is one of the main characters in Star Wars Rebels. I've really tried my best to channel Hera, but I apologize if I haven't done her amazing personality justice. The description of the Tarkona home is inspired by the Syndulla home in the episode "Hera's Heroes."
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who continues reading! You keep on motivating me to snatch moments whenever I can to keep writing and updating! Updates will come slowly, but I know where this story is going and I promise I'll finish it!


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reminder: this story is post-TROS, Fix-It, centered on Rose Tico's POV with background Reylo and an HEA. Canon-compliant up to the present. I am not considering the Star Wars Holiday Special part of canon, and I've invented my own past for the Rebels TV show characters after the end of the show.
> 
> When we left our protagonists--Rose, Rey, and Jacen Syndulla--they had escaped Coruscant where they were being fired upon by an unknown assailant. They had just learned from Jacen's mother, the former Rebellion general and Twi'lek hero Hera Syndulla, that a bounty had been put out on the Ghost, her ship, which they have been flying. Our crew, along with their droids and pet porgs, have arrived on Ryloth and met up with Jacen's family. Rose and Jacen have just recently become romantically involved, and Rey has been training Jacen to use his Force-sensitivity, inherited from his human Jedi father. Jacen has been looking for his mother's dearest friends Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger, who were spies for the Rebellion and disappeared before Exegol. Rey's wound from the battle in Snoke's chamber disappeared after Ben Solo brought her back to life, but her scar has started to come back and hurt her.

Rose had been nervous about making a good impression on Jacen’s mother, but she really should have been more worried about Nessa, who was just as observant as her older half-brother.

The Tarkona house was beautiful, and Elav, Hera’s husband, clearly took great pride in showing his stepson’s new friends around, trying to welcome them. Everything here felt so much more organic, ancient, even handmade, than Rose was used to seeing. In the cozy study, pride of place was given to a pair of simple wooden sculptures called “kalikori,” a representation of the family line. The furniture was simple but comfortable, with signs of many years of wear and repair. Everywhere she looked, Rose spotted another painting or sketch in the same style she’d come to recognize in the artwork on the walls of her and Rey’s quarters in the Ghost. The handiwork of Sabine Wren, she now knew. Several of the pieces featured Jacen, all at different ages, and Rose tried not to stare too hard, hungry for this glimpse into his past but unsure of how much she was allowed to crave it.

From the look on Rey’s face, she felt equally dazed, sitting at the table being greeted and fussed over by two dozen Twi’lek relations. They were all excited to see Jacen, and many of them equally curious about the last Jedi. Rose could see that Rey kept on lifting her hand to rub her arm where the old wound was. The Syndulla and Tarkona relatives, however, weren’t as interested in Rose, for which she was grateful. They were polite, and included Rose in conversation, but didn’t ask many questions. All they seemed to care about her past was that she had been in the Resistance. That fact was enough to spur several of them to reminisce about their days in the Rebellion, fighting to free Ryloth, and before that in the Clone Wars. Rose gathered that Jacen’s grandfather, Cham Syndulla, had been a major leader in both efforts.

Rose concentrated on enjoying her meal in peace, trying to be subtle about watching how Jacen interacted with his family. A thorn of longing and jealousy kept trying to force its way into her heart. She’d never had a home full of this much love and family and interest for her well-being. If she had, she couldn’t imagine ever being willing to stay away for long.

Rose was nearly finished with dessert, sneaking bits of the crunchy topping to Ackie, who was nestled in her lap and kept looking up at her with big plaintive porg eyes, when she felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped.

“Sorry,” Nessa apologized, standing behind her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Rose laughed. “It’s okay. I guess I’m still a little jumpy.”

Nessa nodded. “Sounds like your escape from Coruscant was pretty close.”

“It was. Too close.”

“Would you like to see the garden? I bet the porg would like it. It’s really pretty at night.”

“Sure,” said Rose, getting up and glancing over at Rey, about to invite her. But Rey was engaged in an intense discussion with Elav, gesturing enthusiastically and peppering the older Twi’lek with questions. 

“Rey found out that Elav studies the history of Twi’lek Jedi,” Nessa explained. “They could be at it all night.”

“Ah, okay,” said Rose, and she got up and followed Nessa, who took her down a few corridors and outside to the back of the house. 

Here was a small, fenced-in plot that had gone riotous with flowering vines, climbing trellises and poles, forming a canopy overhead of leaves swaying in the wind. In the center was a small fountain. Ackie immediately left Rose’s shoulder and flew over to the fountain, taking long greedy gulps. 

Nessa sat down on the edge of the fountain and Rose sat beside her. She closed her eyes. The cool night air, and the stars she could glimpse through the vines, made her feel at peace. How long had it been since she’d been on a temperate planet? Not a fueling station traveling through space, or bustling Coruscant, or the desert wastes of Jakku or Tatooine? How long since she’d been able to just sit outside at night and enjoy the quiet? Too long. 

As she trailed her fingers through the cool water, Rose realized that she would like to live someplace like this, someplace she could see the stars and sit outside comfortably. Somewhere that had some of the wonderful animals Paige had always dreamed of seeing in person. For all that she enjoyed engineering and flying, spending all her time holed up on ships or in a factory didn’t appeal to Rose as a permanent career. She wanted a chance for green things, fresh air, maybe a garden.

“How long have you been involved with my brother?”

Rose stared at Nessa, who she could see dimly in the light cast from the Tarkona house windows. “Excuse me?”

“C’mon,” Nessa scoffed. “You came off the Ghost together. I know my brother. Jacen won’t look anywhere near you—he’s trying so hard it almost looks rude. YOU can’t stop looking at him when you think nobody’s watching. I don’t know which one of you is MORE obvious.”

Rose let out a little laugh. “Not much gets past you, huh?”

Nessa shook her head vigorously, her lekku shaking behind her. “Besides, that scarf slipped during the tour, and I saw your neck.” 

When Rose gasped in horror and clapped her hand to her neck where she'd tried to hide her bruise from Jacen's enthusiastic kisses, Nessa burst out laughing. It was a charming, surprisingly high-pitched giggle. 

“Don’t worry! Nobody else saw. But even I know what those marks mean on human skin.” She elbowed Rose. “So are you going to tell me, or do I have to get the details out of Chopper? How did it all get started? How did you meet?”

Rose laughed. “It’s not as romantic as you think. We met sort of by accident. I went to Tatooine to meet up with Rey, and she already knew Jacen. I think it started when Chopper and BeeBee-Ate got in a fight?”

“Sounds like Chopper.”

“Right. Well, Jacen and Rey are both interested in Force things, and Jedi lore, and he’s been looking for Ezra and Sabine. They thought maybe they could help each other. I mean, Rey knows more about the Force than anyone else these days, and your brother knows a lot about Jedi history. So Rey and I sold our ships on Tatooine, and boarded the Ghost. We’ve been traveling together for a few weeks.”

“And…?”

“And what?”

“When did Jacen admit he likes you?”

“Well—I—” Rose sputtered.

“So it’s new,” said Nessa.

“How do you know so much?” laughed Rose.

“Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I don’t know about love,” said Nessa.

Rose realized, with a pang, how much she recognized Nessa’s younger sister bravado. How many times had she said something like that to Paige, insisting that she wasn’t too young for something?

“Oh, do you have a special someone?” Rose gently teased back.

“No,” sighed Nessa. “I don’t. But I hang around a lot with my older cousins—you met Alema and Oola—and they tell me EVERYTHING. My mom has NO idea; she'd freak out and say I was too young. Plus I watch a lot of holodramas. Do you know The Nerfherder and the Princess?”

“Yes!” exclaimed Rose. “It’s my favorite. My friend Torra and I used to watch it all the time. I’ve been getting Rey into it.”

“I can’t WAIT until it comes back from hiatus,” sighed Nessa. “I need to know what happens next!”

“I know! I SCREAMED when Dorian took off his mask in the finale and Aura realized he was her new bodyguard.”

“I think she’ll run away with him.”

“It’s not that simple,” Rose argued. “The princess agreed to the arranged marriage to keep her people safe. The alliance will be broken if she just runs off, and then there will be war.”

“But she can’t stay with the Emperor when she doesn’t love him,” Nessa said confidently. 

“No, but they can’t show Aura starting a war just for no reason,” said Rose. “We saw in the first season how desperate she was to find a way to make peace work. Plus, they’ve worked so hard to make the Emperor a sympathetic character this season. If she just breaks his heart now it won’t feel right. So it’s going to be more complicated than her just running away.”

“You think he’s sympathetic?” asked Nessa, her nose wrinkling.

“Well, yes, I mean, all those flashbacks to his childhood…he’s had so little love in his life, and he’s been manipulated by his uncle. And you can just see the positive influence Aura has had on him! He’s really changed. I think they’ve set him up for a redemption arc.”

“I don’t know,” Nessa argued. “He was so clearly the villain last season.”

“Sometimes people who you think are the villain can change.”

“My mom says that.” Nessa sat with that thought for a while. “But Aura and Dorian NEED to be together. It’s even in the title of the show!”

“Oh, definitely,” Rose agreed. “But they have two more seasons on their contract…so we’re not going to get a happy ending right away. And the important thing is to find a way to keep war from breaking out again.”

“You talk about war like someone who really knows it,” Nessa observed. “Like my mom. I think sometimes my dad’s relatives weren’t really that involved. They talk about war like…like it’s wonderful. Glorious. Like it made them important.”

“I’ve lost a lot,” said Rose, touching her necklace through the fabric of the scarf. “That changes how you feel about war.”

“Who did you lose?” Nessa asked softly.

“Everyone,” Rose whispered. “My parents. Grandmother. Whole family. The First Order destroyed Hays Minor—that was our home planet. My sister and I just barely got away.”

“What happened to your sister?” Nessa asked quietly.

“Paige died, saving us. In the battle at D’Qar, when we evacuated. Right after Starkiller Base exploded.”

“The Hosnian cataclysm,” Nessa said grimly. “That was a bad time.”

“The whole war was a bad time,” said Rose, sliding off the fountain, and beginning to pace. She needed to move. “And the war started long before most of the galaxy even realized it. Nobody was paying attention. At least, not enough people.”

“My mom doesn’t think it’s over yet,” Nessa said. “She’s still afraid. She says everyone thought after the Empire went down that war was over, and they got complacent. So she’s training a new generation of pilots on Ryloth. They have a small flying academy here.”

Rose felt a chill move through her. If the former General Syndulla thought war was coming again, or might come, that didn’t bode well for the future of the galaxy. And Palpatine, and the remnants of his war machine, had survived once. Perhaps they would survive again. Sith cultists and fanatics, Centrist sympathizers, old Empire hands who had never given up—they all seemed to hang on, long after anyone wanted to pay attention to them. Everyone was so tired of fighting. It was easier to ignore them until the threat roared back again. Until the Core Worlds were threatened again. When it was just sad little planets on the Outer Rim, who really cared?

“After my next birthday, I’m going to enroll in the academy,” Nessa said. “That’s my dream. To be a pilot.”

“So that you can fight?”

“No!” Nessa snorted. “So that I can FLY. But you have to be able to fight as well. I already know almost everything I need to know, but Mom and Dad say I can’t go to the academy until I’m sixteen standard years old. And THEN, from the academy, I can get hired.”

“Where would you like to go?”

Nessa stared at her. “Go? Wherever I can get work, I guess. Ideally something with a trader or a merchant. Regular route, come home a lot. Jacen just took off and hardly ever comes home. I can’t do that.” Nessa jutted out her chin, her face full of defiance. “Someone has to look out for Mom and Dad,” Nessa said matter-of-factly. “So that will be me.”

As much as she looked different from her brother—her young, unblemished yellow skin, free from the doubts and tiny wrinkles of three decades of life that gave Jacen such characters, her lekku streaming behind her, her mannerisms much more like her mother—nevertheless, something about the determination in her face reminded Rose of Jacen. 

“Are you mad at Jacen for leaving?” Rose asked softly, afraid of the answer.

Nessa snorted. “No! He had to. He left to help the Resistance. And he was MISERABLE here after Karva died. Totally devastated.” She looked up at Rose. “You’re good for him. It’s the happiest I’ve seen him since then.”

“I thought he hadn’t been back home.”

“He hasn’t, but he’s usually pretty good about sending holos home. And every couple months, Mom and I would try to rendezvous with him. Sometimes that didn’t work, because his schedule got changed, and we’d miss him. But for the most part we’ve been able to catch up. Even during the worst of the war. Mom insisted. Ever since he left home the first time, even before she’d let him take the Ghost. We kept in touch.” Her shoulders slumped a little. “Mom says that’s what she regrets most in life, whenever she didn’t make enough time for those she loved. I think she was always talking about Jacen's dad, but maybe she also means other people, like Auntie Sabine.”

“So now she makes sure that never happens again,” Rose mused aloud.

“Right.” Nessa looked up at her. “So…why were you on Tatooine with Rey? Are you a Jedi too?”

“Oh, no, no, I'm a mechanic. Well, and also an engineer," Rose explained. "We were friends during the war. And Rey doesn’t have a lot of friends left at this point."

Rose stopped herself from going any further, and took a deep breath. Nessa was so easy to talk to, and it was so quiet and private out here, that she had almost slipped up and confessed the truth, that BB-8 had sent her a message and warned her that Rey was slipping into a depression on Tatooine and needed help. But that whole story was one that even Jacen didn’t know yet, and Rose wasn’t sure how to explain it. Plus, she reminded herself, Nessa WAS only fifteen, and very direct. Telling her too much might just lead to her asking Rey uncomfortable questions.

"I was on a fueling station helping them repair and upgrade," Rose explained. "They took on a lot of damage in the war, especially at the battle of Exegol. I had just finished up my job there when I heard from Rey. She needed help. She’s on a…quest, I guess you’d call it, and so is Jacen. To learn more about the Force, and maybe find Ezra and Sabine. So they realized their goals sort of intersected, and it made sense to travel together and try to help each other.”

“Ah,” said Nessa. “And you’re helping them?”

“Well, I didn’t have anything else to do.” Rose hated how sad that sounded. “I’m not sure how much I’ve helped so far.”

Nessa snorted at that. “I heard Jacen talking about how you figured out how to reverse-engineer the comm link and didn’t get blown up by Auntie Sabine’s little booby traps. That’s pretty impressive.”

“Yes, but it hasn’t worked yet,” Rose said. 

“Well, maybe they haven’t switched on their comm yet on their side,” Nessa suggested. “Either way, it’s the best chance we have of finding them. The best chance we’ve ever had.” She suddenly moved over and squeeze Rose in a brief, fierce hug. “I know how much that means to my mom.”

Rose hugged her back. “Everyone deserves to find the ones they love again,” she said. “If it’s in any way possible. Now, tell me more about this flying academy you want to join. What kind of ships are they training on?”

\------

“Ben…yes…please…oh...yes...”

Rose froze in the doorway to the guest quarters she was sharing with Rey, her hand hovering above the switch to activate the lights. She and Nessa had stayed up late talking in the garden, and when they had come back inside, the household was mostly asleep. Nessa had directed her back towards the guest quarters—the Tarkona house was really a warren of rooms and passageways—and after a quick visit to the adjoining refresher unit, Rose was trying to sneak into the room she was sharing with Rey.

But she hadn’t expected Rey to be in the middle of a very…exciting dream.

Then the bed frame CREAKED. Loudly. 

Rose backed up as quickly and silently as she could and thanked the stars that the Tarkona family, for all that they valued the age and character of their home, had invested in modern whisper-quiet 'fresher doors that slid shut without a sound. Rose stood absolutely still in the darkness of the 'fresher, not moving again until she heard an audible groan--surprisingly deep and guttural, almost masculine--that reassured her that her entrance hadn't been noticed. 

Very, very cautiously, Rose edged back out of the fresher through the other door and into the hallway. Out here it wasn’t so dark, because the halls were dimly lit all night with a faint orange glow, presumably from recessed lighting. She began to quietly wend her way down the halls, since apparently she was going to be the one sleeping on the Ghost tonight.

Rose tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened. 

It wasn't that Rose hadn't ever interrupted someone, or been overheard herself. Resistance bases usually hadn’t offered much privacy in their sleeping quarters. Rose knew she’d relieved her own sexual tension more than once with others sleeping around her, and she assumed that they had done the same, all as discreetly as possible; a few times she had simply pretended, very fiercely, that she was still asleep. Once she had walked in on Torra making out with a handsome pilot who had stayed briefly on the Colossus, and of course there was that hilarious incident in which she found Poe wedged in the supply closet with his latest conquest. 

But this was different. This was Rey, her friend, the last Jedi, fantasizing about a dead man. A dead man who had been the leader of the First Order and their worst enemy.

Rey still being in love with Ben Solo was no surprise, since nobody gives up on their soulmate easily. Rey being a healthy, sexually frustrated woman wasn’t a surprise either. But her inability to even notice that Rose had walked into the room was a surprise. So much for Force sensitivity, Rose snorted to herself as she slipped out the front door and dashed across the courtyard to the Ghost.

Boarding the Ghost, though, Rose found herself proved wrong in her blanket dismissal of Jedi senses, because lo and behold, leaning over the railing, was Jacen Syndulla, looking completely unsurprised.

“Hello there,” he said, with a mischievous smile. “Looking for me?”

Rose laughed and felt her face heating with an uncontrolled blush. She was still wearing her favorite soft blue robe over her sleeping clothes, and she instinctively tightened the sash. Jacen was…just wearing his sleeping pants, and they were slung low over his hips. His smile widened still further when he saw how her gaze roamed over his chest.

“Actually,” Rose explained, walking over to the ladder, “I just…came here to sleep. Rey is, ah, making a lot of noise.” 

Rose felt her face get even hotter at that, but Jacen interpreted her reaction quite differently. He didn’t move back when she got to the platform, but instead came towards her, leaning against the doorway to the living quarters and blocking it with a cocky grin. He teased her with a smirk on his face and an obvious flex of his chest muscles.

“Ah, so that’s your excuse. You’re blaming Rey’s snoring for hunting me down.”

“Hunting you down?” Rose was genuinely surprised, and now Jacen looked taken aback.

“You weren’t looking for me?” he asked. 

“No, I was just looking for somewhere quiet to sleep,” she answered frankly. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not happy to see you.”

At that, Jacen’s eyes lit up. For a moment, Rose got lost in their blue depths, captivated as always. His whole body relaxed, and he moved back, beckoning her through the doorway. 

“Come on in. I was just making some hot cocoa. Let me get you a mug.”

Rose followed him past their rooms to the small galley. 

“I don’t think the Ghost has ever been this quiet,” she remarked, as Jacen poured her a mug from the pan on the small heating element. 

“Well, the porgs are in the house, and Chopper is too. I think the rollies are also in there charging up. So we have the ship to ourselves, for once.”

“What brought you out here?” asked Rose. As she took a long sip of her hot cocoa, she remembered what Jacen had said before they landed, about how he’d never really lived in the Tarkona home except for the few months right after his girlfriend Karva Guafri died in the Hosnian Cataclysm.

“Of course,” Rose said quietly. “The Ghost just feels more like home.”

“Yeah,” Jacen acknowledged, staring down at his drink. “I was so old when Mom and Elav got together, and like I told you, I was pretty much out of the house by the time they moved here. I’ve always been more comfortable on the Ghost than anywhere else.”

“I know what you mean,” Rose admitted. “Since leaving Hays Minor, I’ve spent more time on ships and space stations than on the ground. Tonight was the first time I’ve been in a real garden since…I don’t know when.” She couldn’t keep her tone from getting wistful. “You’re so lucky to have a family and a home like this to come back to, even if there are painful memories.”

“True, but it’s not really MY home,” said Jacen, and he reached his right hand across the table to clasp hers. Rose looked up from their hands to find him gazing at her with a serious, earnest expression. “I promise, I appreciate them. I’ve seen so much loss in this galaxy. I know how lucky I am. I know what it means to have this. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful. Mom and Nessa mean everything to me. Elav does too. And all my cousins. I wish you could have met my grandfather. Cham was incredible. He was such an inspiration to me growing up. And I know he would have liked you. My mom and sister already do.”

Rose found herself tearing up. Jacen slid over next to her on the banquette and put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her tight. 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t more demonstrative in front of my family,” he murmured into her hair. “I didn’t want to rush things.”

Rose laughed. “Nessa already knows anyhow. We were talking about it in the garden.”

“I’m glad you and my sister hit it off.”

“I am too. She’s wonderful. She was telling me about her friends and some of your cousins. We also like the same holo dramas. And we talked a lot about ships and their maneuverability versus shielding. Your sister has very old-fashioned taste.”

“I know,” said Jacen, rolling his eyes. “Elav had an old A-wing, practically ancient—it finally gave out a few years back—and she keeps insisting they’re the best model.”

“She likes the classics. I think she has good taste.”

“Nessa likes to be different,” said Jacen. “I never know when she’s saying something just to be contrary to everyone else, and when she really means it. Sometimes Nessa makes a big deal out of having a unique taste.”

“Why do you think she does that?”

Jacen shrugged. “She’s going to be different no matter what, with a half-human brother. I guess she’s just leaned into being different on purpose, trying to own it and make it part of her.” 

“Did that…make things hard on Ryloth? Having a human father?”

“Not for me, but I know it can for her,” said Jacen. “On the Twi’lek homeworld you don’t see too many mixed-species relationships. Everyone knows she’s Hera Syndulla’s daughter, and everyone knows Hera’s oldest child was with a human. I think it fuels her drive to prove herself as a pilot. She wants to show that she’s just as good at flying as the other Syndullas, and define her own path.”

“That makes sense,” said Rose, resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes drifted shut. The hot cocoa had been delicious, and now her sleepiness was hitting her hard. 

“You should get to bed now,” Jacen said softly. “It’s late.”

“Mmm.” Rose yawned. “Yes,” she said. “I should go to my bunk.”

A long, heated silence followed, with Jacen frozen beside her, not even breathing. Rose was suddenly wide awake. She sat up and looked at him. Now Jacen was the one blushing, and even the green tips of his ears were taking on a red tinge. He ran his hands through his hair, ruffling those tempting emerald strands in his usual nervous tick.

“Erm. Could you. Please. I mean. With me. I don’t. I mean just to sleep. Honestly,” he sputtered out.

“You…want me to sleep with you?”

“Just sleep! It’s a double, big enough for two,” he said hastily. “The pilot’s quarters have a bigger bed, and I promise, it’s very comfortable, and I don’t snore or anything. I just…I think I’m going to have nightmares, even on the Ghost. The echoes around this house…on Ryloth…it’s hard.”

Now Jacen looked as if he wanted to cry. Rose immediately put her hand back on his. “Yes, of course,” she said. “I’ll stay with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for an update...this semester was intense! I'm back on it now, though, and the next chapter will be very action-packed. I'll try to put a quick review in the chapter summaries for a bit to make sure that the threads I've introduced previously are fresh enough for readers to follow along, since it's been so long since I last posted. 
> 
> I do have this story planned out, and I will be finishing it, I promise! Thank you to everyone who has kept reading!


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jacen and Rose are awoken abruptly after their night together on the Ghost. Rose is getting to know Jacen's family, and his connections to his home planet of Ryloth, much better. But they learn that the danger that chased them from Coruscant has come to Ryloth.

Of all the ways Rose would have imagined her first night spent in bed with a male lover going, none of them included a pissed-off astromech banging on the door, opening it, and whirling in, cursing loudly, early the next morning.

“AH!” Rose yelled, bolting upright and clutching the sheets to her chest as Jacen groaned and shoved his head under a pillow.

“GO AWAY, CHOPPER!” he bellowed.

The swirling, gesticulating droid had another opinion of who (namely, Jacen) should be going WHERE, and what he should be doing to himself. Rose realized yet again that a well-travelled droid who had seen several wars would, of course, know a greater variety of expletives than most sentients. At least, some of what she heard sounded like expletives. She wasn’t sure about all the translations.

Rose snuck a glance back at Jacen, who seemed mostly annoyed, not shocked, and was now sitting upright and throwing their pillows at Chopper, who responded by popping out his saw attachment and cutting them in half mid-air. 

“Those are my PILLOWS, you half-witted bucket of bolts! I should abandon you on Tatooine and sell you to the Jawas for spare parts!”

His mother stepped into the doorway, her arms folded and head shaking. 

“If you didn’t want Chopper to destroy your pillows,” the stern Twi’lek declared, frowning at him, “you shouldn’t have thrown them at him.”

Rose squeaked and tugged the blanket higher, as if that would prevent Hera Syndulla-Tarkona from noticing her existence.

Jacen by now had jumped out of bed. “Chopper had no business waking us up so early!”

“If you had ALL the security protocols ACTIVATED on this ship," his mother huffed, "you would have been AWAKE when your sister took the Phantom.”

“What? Nessa took the shuttle?”

“Yes, your sister boarded the ship, came down this very hallway, and climbed up and stole the auxiliary shuttle, and headed who knows where. We wouldn’t even know that much if Chopper hadn’t been keeping a lookout. You know that shuttle has a hyperdrive. Nessa could be ANYWHERE by now, on Ryloth or off, getting into who knows how much trouble.” Gentle but firm, Hera continued, “I can’t believe you disabled the security protocols I put on the Phantom to prevent just this kind of thing happening. I’m disappointed in you, Jacen. How could you be so careless?”

Jacen bounded over to his simple set of drawers and grabbing clothes, and Rose averted her eyes just before he tore off his sleep shirt and started dressing for the day. She wasn’t sure where to look, especially since Chopper was now waving a little blowtorch in her direction, taunting her with being equally useless.

“Stop that, Chopper,” scolded Hera, and the saucy droid actually listened to her. “It’s not Rose’s fault. Jacen’s the one who didn’t have things locked down properly.”

Jacen stopped and glared at Chopper. "Why didn't CHOPPER stop her?"

Chopper razzed back that he wasn't a guard droid.

“You just didn’t want to make Nessa angry because she’s your favorite,” Jacen grumbled, to which the saucy droid informed him that of course Nessa was his favorite, and then provided a few choice epithets as to what he thought of Jacen.

With difficulty, Rose didn’t laugh, and noticed out of the corner of her eye that Jacen had finished changing while Chopper was excoriating him. Rose was uncomfortably aware, again, just how fit and irresistible he looked, wearing the dark green leggings and tunic from when they first met, just without the elaborate head wraps and layers to protect himself from the Tatooine sun and winds. 

Jacen didn’t notice, however, because he was busy defending himself from the accusations of lax security.

“Mom, I didn’t have all the security protocols enabled because we’re HOME. We’re here at your house, and there’s guards watching the ships at all times.”

Rose wondered how many people had seen her heading to the Ghost last night and felt herself blushing all over again.

“Jacen, that’s no excuse to be careless.” 

“I wasn’t being careless. You know the security lockout takes too long to disable! And I had to shut down all those extra alarms you had installed on the loading bay. One of them malfunctioned and Auntie Sabine’s ‘intruder detector’ went off right in my face. It took me WEEKS to get all the paint off! Do you know how hard it is to try to smuggle an asset out of a shipyard when your skin is covered in bright pink paint?”

Rose couldn’t suppress her snort, and she made eye contact with Hera, who raised one eyebrow in evident amusement, cocking her head to the side. 

“I’m sorry,” Rose said automatically. “Rey was—ah—snoring—and I came onto the Ghost to get some sleep. I didn’t mean—that is, we weren’t—”

Hera shook her head slightly, a smile flickering on her face. “I understand,” she said in neutral tone. 

Rose wasn’t sure what, exactly, Hera meant, but apparently the formidable Twi’lek general was not going to acknowledge that she’d found a strange girl in her son’s bed under what looked like very suggestive circumstances.

“Your friend Rey left very early this morning with my husband,” Hera explained. “Elav and his research assistant are going to show her the Jedi murals in the northern canyonlands. Rey was very excited last night when he was showing her sketches of some of the symbols they found there. They’ll be back late for dinner.”

“Ah, okay,” said Rose, frowning slightly. She hadn’t expected Rey to, well, ditch them. She’d barely seen Rey since they had fled Coruscant, and now she was chasing down some Jedi lead without even consulting Jacen, who was the one she was supposedly training. 

Then Hera removed a comm link from her belt and handed it to Rose. “Rey asked me to give this to you. It’s a bit shorter-range, but it is tuned to compensate for some of the distortions you get going through the storm belt by the canyonlands. Rey said she’ll check in around lunch and let you know if they’ve found anything useful. Something about vergences and maps? I’m not sure of all the details, but it sounded important.”

“Of course,” said Rose, a smile breaking out on her face. She stopped clutching the sheet, and sat fully upright, feeling increasingly comfortable. “The World Between Worlds. Force vergences. That’s what we’ve been researching. It’s sort of like connections between planets, but the connections aren’t hyperspace lanes. They’re something different you can only access with the Force. Rey has been researching them. She thinks it’s connected to the battle of Exegol, and the Unknown Regions. We’re hoping that accessing these connections could help us find out what Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren were doing before they disappeared in the Unknown Regions.”

Hera took a deep inhale, her arms dropping to her side. She suddenly looked very sad, and vulnerable, and younger somehow. 

“That sounds familiar,” she said softly. “Ezra visited a place like that. During the battle for Lothal. The entrance he used to get there has been destroyed, but he was able to use the Force to access a place that connected different locations, on different worlds, and in different times, even.”

“So there might really be a connection to where Uncle Ezra is?”

Rose and Hera turned to look at Jacen. He, too, suddenly looked younger and more vulnerable, but far more hopeful than his mother. 

“Possibly,” said Hera. She glanced over at Rose. “If you want to come inside for breakfast, we have hot space waffles.”

“Oh, I love space waffles!” said Rose. “Aunt Z made the best ones. She was the cook on the fueling station I worked after the war. Thank you!”

Hera smiled. “Jacen loves them too,” she said. “I try to make them whenever he comes home. Come on in—when you’re, ah, ready.” She smiled, with a lift of her eyebrows, and left.

Jacen and Rose just stared at each other, as Rose silently gave thanks that she had chosen a fairly modest and simple set of nightclothes the night before. “What just happened?” he asked aloud.

“I think your mother knows we’re…seeing each other. And she’s trying to keep the rest of your family from catching on, and teasing you about it.”

“Apparently she loves you as well,” said Jacen. “At least that makes one of us she’s happy with this morning.” He sat down on the bed next to Rose and grabbed her hand. “I never even got a chance to ask. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I did. How about you?”

“Best I’ve slept on this planet in years,” he answered honestly. Jacen was beaming at her. “Though…I was hoping…that this morning wouldn’t be all about my mother. And Chopper. Not really how I would have planned things. Though I didn’t plan anything,” he hastened to add. “I really did come to the Ghost to sleep because I couldn’t handle the house.”

“I know,” Rose reassured him, squeezing his hand. 

\----------  
Breakfast with Jacen and his mother was far less awkward than Rose had feared. Hera Syndulla-Tarkona was primarily focused on chatting with Jacen, but included Rose just enough in the conversation. Rose felt welcomed, but not overwhelmed.

After Jacen praised Rose’s engineering chops, Hera suggested that they could visit her pilots’ academy that afternoon. 

“Some of the younger pilots would enjoy meeting Jacen, and Rose, I’m sure you’ll be interested in seeing our fleet. They’re not the fanciest ships, and sometimes we have to resort to some…creative solutions to keep them flying. Are you familiar with the older series of X-wings?”

“Yes!” said Rose. “We had several with the Resistance. At any given point we had, well, everything. If it could get off the ground, we used it. Or sometimes we used it even if it couldn’t get off the ground,” she added, thinking of the skimmers on Crait. “I’d be happy to take a look. Maybe I can help you with some ideas for how to improve the fuel efficiency.”

“That would be wonderful,” Hera said, “but we don’t want you to feel like you have to work the whole time you’re here. You’re our guest, after all. Jacen, why don’t you show Rose the western canyonlands? There’s some really beautiful scenery out there, and you haven’t been to Sabine’s mural in years.”

“Sabine painted murals on Ryloth?” asked Rose.

“She was the lead artist and collaborated with a group of Twi’lek artists creating a tribute to the people who fought against the Empire,” Hera explained. “It’s magnificent. We used to go there for picnics when Jacen was little.”

“My dad’s in the mural,” Jacen admitted, sheepishly. “It’s mostly Twi’leks, but also people who fought alongside Twi’leks. The whole Ghost cell from the Rebellion is depicted, along with a lot of other people.”

“You should take the speeders,” Hera suggested. “It would give Rose more of a tour of Ryloth than just hopping over in the Ghost.”

“Would you be interested?” Jacen asked.

“Absolutely,” said Rose, “but I don’t want to take you away from your family. I know that you don’t get a chance to be home very often.”

Jacen snorted. “Tell Nessa that,” he remarked. “First time I see her in months, and she steals the Phantom and runs off without even saying good morning.”

“Jacen,” said his mother, in a warning tone. 

“Mo-om,” he replied.

Hera sighed and shook her head, her lekku bouncing in her agitation. “Nessa’s a teenager,” she said. “Think about what you were doing at her age!”

Jacen scowled, crossing his arms. “That was different.” 

Hera laughed gently. “You sound just like your father,” she said, with obvious affection. “The only difference here is that this time, YOU are the one who wants your sister around, and SHE is the one running off to see her friends.”

“She still shouldn’t have taken the Phantom without permission.”

“True,” Hera acknowledged. “I’ll talk to her when she gets back.”

“Okay,” said Jacen. He rose from the table and turned to Rose. “So, are you interested in seeing the mural?”

Rose hesitated and looked over at Hera. “Why not all three of us go together?” she suggested. 

“You want me to come with you?” asked Hera. “I don’t want to get in the way.”

Rose and Jacen exchanged a quick glance. No words, but a question was asked and answered all the same.

“Mom, you wouldn’t be in the way,” Jacen assured her. “You still have three speeder bikes, right? And this way you can show both of us around. I haven’t been down that trail in years.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” said Hera, a grin spreading across her face. “I guess I could skip a morning at the academy for once.”

\------------

Three hours later, when Rose dismounted from her speeder, her muscles ached with exertion, her clothes and goggles sported a faint sheen of red dust, and her face felt like it was about to break from grinning so hard.

Jacen gave her a not-so-subtle glance up and down her figure, winking roguishly. “You kept up pretty well, Tico.”

“Ooh, was that a challenge, Syndulla?” she teased back. “Be careful, I might REALLY make an effort on the way back.”

“Oh, so you think you can take me, huh?”

“I’m pretty sure I’d have you eating my dust!” Rose laughed. 

“Looks like you’ve already gotten a lot of dust on you,” Jacen grinned, and yet again, those devastating blue eyes pulled her in, as he stepped closer and closer. His left hand rested on her shoulder as his right hand caressed her hair. 

“Trying to clean me up?” Rose said softly, her words coming out lower and more suggestive than she had intended. 

“If I was really trying to get all the dust off you, I would have to do a lot more than this,” Jacen replied, his tone equally low. He leaned closer to her and softly kissed her on the lips.

Rose’s head swam, and she rose on her tiptoes to meet him halfway for another quick kiss. They broke apart when the unmistakable whine of another speeder bike pierced the silence.

Jacen looked down at her and grinned. “I think I need to go back into tour guide mode,” he said.

Rose laughed. “At least here there isn’t anyone who will say they knew you when you were still trying to eat your own boogers,” she teased.

Jacen blushed at that, shaking his head. “I knew we shouldn’t have stopped in that village,” he grumbled.

Hera swooped in on her speeder and decelerated to a smooth stop. “I heard that,” she called out, pushing her goggles back. “You can’t blame Nabat for being excited. He hasn’t seen you in years.”

“Sure,” Jacen huffed, “but did he have to retell THAT story?”

Hera came over and ruffled Jacen’s hair affectionately, even though she had reach up to do so. She looked over at Rose. 

“I hope you don’t mind the trip down memory lane,” she said. “I know it made our journey longer.”

“Oh, no, it was wonderful,” Rose assured her. “I’ve never been to Ryloth before, so I was happy to see some of it.” She paused a moment and then asked, “Maybe this is a silly question, but…where’s the mural? All I see here is a lake and some mountains, and a waterfall over there.” She gestured at the waterfall in question. 

Hera smiled. “Ah, yes. That’s the genius of Sabine’s design. Jacen, would you like to show her?”

“Don’t you want to come?”

Hera shook her head and busied herself removing the crate that contained their lunch from the back of her speeder. “I was here with Elav just last month. I’ll set up our lunch and it will be ready when you get back.” 

Hera pointed to a series of low benches arranged on the shore, where Rose noticed a few Twi’lek families enjoying themselves, with small children running around and playing. 

“I’ll be sitting over there. Take your time."

“Okay,” said Jacen, reaching out and taking Rose by the hand. “C’mon, Rose. Wait till you see this.”

Jacen led her over towards a small dock, where an elderly grey-green male Twi’lek was sitting with a shade over him, dozing in the midday calm. Jacen had to nudge him awake, but then the exchange of credits and renting of a small boat happened quickly enough. Rose was too bewildered to even offer to pay; she still wasn’t sure how a boat ride connected to seeing this famous mural, which she didn’t see a sign of in any direction. Just as they were pushing off from the dock, Jacen pulling on the oars, the proprietor perked up with sudden recognition.

“Hey, aren’t you Cham Syndulla’s grandson? Hera’s boy?”

“Nope,” Jacen called back, rowing frantically. “Don’t know him. Have a nice day!”

Rose couldn’t help her giggles. “Jacen,” she gasped out, once they were safely out of earshot, “how could you lie to that nice old man?”

Jacen sighed. “Because if Pol remembers me, he has even WORSE stories than Nabat.”

“What could be worse than picking your own nose and eating it? Or falling in love with a Wookiee?”

Jacen blushed hard at that, his bright cheeks making an interesting contrast to his vivid light green hair and green-tipped ears. “I can’t believe Nessa told you about Lowarra.”

“I’m sure she was a very…PERSONABLE Wookiee,” Rose teased.

“We were just good friends,” Jacen grumbled. “Nessa is exaggerating.”

“Sure. Very good friends,” Rose teased. “So what could be more embarrassing than a crush on a Wookiee? An love affair with a rancor?”

“I might as well tell you,” Jacen sighed. “My mom probably will when we get back. The first time I insisted in being the one to row my mom out here, I was ten, and I really wasn’t quite big enough to manage it. So I was pulling very hard, not moving all that fast. We were almost going BACKWARDS because I couldn’t really fight the current. Mom was just sitting there in the boat, being patient, as usual. It must have taken me twenty minutes just to get halfway across the lake. Well, I guess I got over-excited. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I dropped an oar, and then I tried to get it. Then I fell in after it. And when I tried to get back in the boat, I capsized it.”

“Aw!” said Rose, but she wasn’t really laughing AT him, just smiling at the picture of a half-drowned young Jacen, imagining the figure from the paintings she’d seen in the Tarkona household. “That could happen to anyone.”

“Not…exactly,” said Jacen. “After I capsized it, and got Mom dunked overboard too, I sort of…overreacted. With the Force. And I might have accidentally shoved her…up and into the air, and across the lake, right over there, REALLY fast."

He jerked his chin towards their destination, and Rose swiveled around in her seat to face it. They were heading straight to the waterfall.

“I freaked out, and started flailing, and almost drowning. Luckily some of my family were with us that day, and one of my uncles pulled me out, and my mom was fine. But it was pretty humiliating. Not a great way for everyone in the family to find out you inherited your Jedi dad’s Force sensitivity.”

“Well, it sounds like you were just trying to take care of your mom,” said Rose, briskly. 

Jacen shot her a smile of pure gratitude, clearly pleased that was what she took from the tale.

Rose turned around again, gazing up at the massive waterfall. “Why are we going here?”

“Because,” Jacen said grandly, “here’s where Sabine’s mural is.”

“What?” Rose asked dumbly. She turned and looked up, noticing now that there was a massive overhang, and the water was cascading down many meters away from the cliff face behind it, where she could just make out a cave.

Rose sat in stunned silence as Jacen skillfully manipulated the boat behind the waterfall and into the cave. It was taller than Rose expected. After a moment, her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, and the pounding of the water became a pleasant background noise.

Gazing upward and around, Rose then saw it. “Magnificent,” she whispered. “How…how did they do this?”

All around them were stunning, glowing, bioluminescent portraits of various figures, mostly Twi’leks, but also a smattering of other species—Mon Cala, humans, Bothans, a Lasat that Rose recognized from art on the Ghost, Pantorans, Wookies, even a couple droids, and others. The images covered the walls, the ceiling, all around them. 

“It’s a combination of special paint and some native plants,” Jacen replied softly, as if he, too, was affected by the magnificent, damp, quiet space. “Sabine and some local artists worked it out. The paint was infused with nutrients for these special kinds of coral, and they transplanted the right variants for the right colors. Every year or so there’s a commission who comes out and touches it up, makes sure the coral are getting enough food, prune any that are getting too big for their area, transplant if they need more of a certain color in another area.” 

He pointed over at a human on the ceiling directly above them, standing next to a Twi’lek Rose immediately recognized as Hera.

“My dad’s pant leg, it’s looking a little blurry, see? So they need to prune that blue one back a bit, probably transplant it elsewhere. Maybe feed a bit more the brown one that’s his hair. It’s not in bad shape, though; they’re going to be doing the annual restoration in just a few weeks. So for a year of being left to their own devices, the corals haven’t gotten too out of control this year.”

“So this whole mural is…living. It’s all living organisms,” Rose breathed out.

“Yes,” said Jacen. “Very unusual for my aunt. Auntie Sabine usually works with paint. There’s also a painted version of it that she did which they keep in our main government building at the capital. That was the template for this living version, and she worked with the artists who created it. This version is the one that Mom prefers to visit.”

“Why?” asked Rose, leaning forward in the small boat until she could put her hands over his on the oars. “Why create something so delicate, that needs so much work all the time just to upkeep it?”

Jacen shrugged. “I think that was the point. Auntie Sabine said she wanted it to be alive, and something we all had to work to preserve, like the New Republic itself. She said, what better tribute to those who fought in the war. Even if we neglected it, all that would happen is that the coral would thrive on its own. The image might eventually be lost, but the life of the coral would remain.”

He gazed upward. “This coral is specific to Ryloth,” he explained, “and it’s pretty rare and endangered. Some of the colors in this cave were bred just for this mural. So it contributes something to the planet besides memorializing the heroes of the galactic war.”

“Wow,” said Rose. Tears pricked her eyes as she gazed around. “I wonder if anyone will care about memorials for those lost in this war. The one against the First Order, I mean.”

“Of course,” said Jacen. “It just may take a while. The war hasn’t been over very long yet. I’m sure people will find ways to honor them.”

Rose’s hand drifted back up to her necklace, touching the cool metal and tracing the pattern on it under her fingertips. 

“This mural is absolutely extraordinary,” she said again, gazing around her. “I guess you know everyone here?”

“Most of the major people, but not everyone.” Jacen then started to point out figures to her, like his grandfather Cham Syndulla and his cell of freedom fighters. Rose didn’t recognize all the names, but she nodded intently all the same. 

When they were finished and had gazed their fill, Jacen rowed them back out. Rose had to blink her eyes, hard, to adjust to the light outside the cave, and when they were away from the waterfall she shook her head a bit, trying to readjust to no longer hearing the pounding of the falling water.

“Your Aunt Sabine was magnificent,” she said, putting up a hand to shade her eyes as she looked back towards the waterfall. “To come up with a project like that—she really understood art as part of people’s lives, and culture.”

“WAS magnificent?” Jacen said sharply.

“IS magnificent,” Rose corrected. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

Jacen exhaled slowly. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

“We will,” said Rose, much more firmly. “When we get back later today, I’m going to take another look at that comm link. There has to be a way to trace a signal from it. I’m going to figure it out, I promise.”

“Thank you,” Jacen said, a smile breaking across his face.

“Families should get to be together,” said Rose.

“Families can choose each other,” Jacen replied. “Sabine and Ezra went through the war with my parents, you know. They’re not related to me, strictly speaking. But I consider them family. I guess that’s what Rey is to you.”

“Yes,” Rose admitted. “Exactly. She’s not the only one, but I lost so many people during the war, that there’s not many people left in my life.”

“I must look like a real jerk to you,” Jacen said. “Here I am, griping about my sister stealing a shuttle off my ship—excuse me, my MOTHER’S ship—and I have a family and a home planet.”

Rose laughed and shook her head. “I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “Wonderful that you have all these people who love you. And they’ve been so welcoming to me and Rey. Your sister and I had a great time together last night.”

“Good,” said Jacen, beaming at her. “Nessa doesn’t do anything to just be polite. So if she spent time with you, that’s because she liked you. If she thought you were boring, she would have come up with some excuse and gone to bed early.”

“I didn’t realize I was on trial!” Rose laughed. She eyed the rapidly approaching dock with some trepidation. “Am I being tested by your mom too?”

“No,” Jacen said quickly, too quickly, before he backtracked. “Well, maybe a little. But don’t worry, I think you already passed.”

“I have?”

Jacen beamed at her. “My mom will like anyone who makes me happy,” he said simply. “And you make me happy.”

Rose grinned back at him, her heart swooping. Then she saw Hera running down the shore, hurrying over to the dock, tension evident in every step. “What is your mother doing?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” said Jacen, pulling the boat closer and grabbing the rope that Pol threw to him. “Here, tie that off—Mom, what’s going on? We’re coming back, everything’s fine.”

“Everything is NOT fine,” Hera gasped, clearly out of breath. “I just heard from Chopper. Some of your sister’s friends contacted the house. They were supposed to meet up with Nessa for some target practice—YES, I know, your sister has NO BUSINESS doing target practice drills with the older kids in the academy, we’ll deal with that later. But when they got there, Nessa was missing. All that was left was the Phantom. She managed to trigger the panic button for the silent alarm, but she’s gone.” Hera slumped down, her whole posture communicating defeat as she desperately grabbed her son by the shoulders. “Jacen. Your sister has been taken and we don’t know who did it, or why.”

“What…how…could this be a prank?” Jacen asked, dumbly. “That…that can’t be. Nessa doesn’t have any enemies. YOU don’t even have any enemies. Nor does Elav.”

“I know, I know,” gasped out Hera. “I didn’t think I had to worry about her until she went off-planet and got a job like you. I thought I had a few more years of her being here on Ryloth, and only having one kid to worry about. I don’t understand it. But your sister wouldn’t trigger the panic button without a good reason.”

“Jacen,” said Rose slowly, hating every word, “would that bounty that was put out on the Ghost and its occupants extend to its shuttle?”

“They LEFT the shuttle,” said Jacen, staring at her blankly. “Her friends found the Phantom.”

“Yes, but if there was a bounty on the Ghost and the people in it…and Nessa was out by herself in the shuttle…”

“Oh no,” Jacen and Hera said at the same time. 

“Yes,” said Rose grimly. “Nessa may have been captured by a bounty hunter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long chapter, but I wanted to get up to the point where they realize Nessa's in danger, as well as further advancing Jacen and Rose's relationship.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Jacen's romantic sojourn exploring the beauties of the planet Ryloth was interrupted by news that Jacen's younger sister Nessa has been kidnapped. Now Rose, Jacen, and his mother Hera are racing to the scene of the crime to discover what they can and try to pick up the teenage Twi'lek's trail. Rey, Rose, and Jacen don't yet know if Nessa's kidnapping might have something to do with them, since there's a bounty on their ship, the Ghost, and Nessa was kidnapped when she was joyriding in the little shuttle, the Phantom, that sits atop the Ghost. Rose's engineering wits are put to the test as she starts to unravel the mystery of how Nessa was found and aids the distraught family in racing to save the younger sister of the man with whom she's begun to fall in love.

Rose ate dust the entire way to the canyon where Nessa’s friends had found the Phantom abandoned, with no sign of their friend besides the blinking lights of the silent alarm that had clued them into her abduction. Jacen and Hera were frantic and raced ahead on their speeders, though Jacen lagged back a few times to make sure Rose didn’t get lost. Even so, she couldn’t keep up. The former best pilot in the Rebellion and Ryloth native, and her Force-sensitive son, could navigate the terrain far faster than Rose could. She didn’t try too hard to keep up, since she was so keen on not accidentally face-planting into a canyon wall.

By the time Rose arrived, Hera and Jacen had split off to interrogate two separate groups. Over by an old X-wing model, Hera was scolding three Twi’lek teenagers, all wearing the brown jumpsuits of the Ryloth Flight Academy. Rose couldn’t see their faces, but the slumped shoulders, partially-covered faces, and downcast glances told her just how ashamed and upset they were.

Jacen was standing next to the Phantom, talking to four adult Twi’leks, who were all armed and looking around warily. Rose thought she recognized them as some of the relatives from the dinner the night before, though she wasn’t sure how they were related to the family.

As she powered down her speeder, Rose was immediately accosted by Chopper, currently the angriest astromech in the galaxy. He was vociferously blaming Jacen for being careless, the Flight Academy students for agreeing to meet up with Nessa, Hera for teaching her how to fly, the Ryloth government that didn’t have better patrols in rural areas, the Guild for taking in such disreputable bounty hunters, the New Republic for not—

“Okay, that’s enough,” Rose interrupted. “Chopper, has anyone inspected the shuttle?”

Not yet. 

“I’ll check it out,” said Rose, striding over to the Phantom. “You check the outside. No, I don’t know what for, just…look at it. Scan it.”

The inside of the small shuttle didn’t offer up any clues, and there was nowhere to hide anything. Rose could stand in the middle of it and just about touch the ceiling and sides with her arms out. It was as impeccably clean as Jacen kept the Ghost, and nothing had disturbed it that she could see. Not so much as a scuff or a footprint, not even a snagged thread anywhere. Rose slid down in the pilot’s chair and checked the readouts; none of the guns had been fired today.

Rose fingered the button underneath the seat that would trigger the silent alarm on the Phantom, just as it did on the Ghost, and shut it off. 

The flashing light on the dashboard turned off in response. Rose knew that the light, and noise, on the Ghost would have turned off as well. She was familiar with such systems that linked major ships and their smaller shuttles. It was a cloaked binary beacon, untraceable and unhackable except from the paired ship. If only whoever it was had taken Nessa AND the Phantom, then they could have traced her easily from the Ghost.

Looking out at the empty desert, Rose tried to guess what Nessa had seen to make her trigger the alarm.

Jacen called out, “Did you find anything?” He walked up the ramp and stood in the back of the shuttle. 

Rose swiveled around in the pilot’s chair. “No, I didn’t,” she said slowly, “but that’s what is so strange about it.”

“What do you mean?” Jacen walked up to right behind her and Rose had to crane her neck back to look up at him.

“Why wouldn’t she just fly away?”

“She was waiting for her friends,” he said.

“Right, but something scared her. Nessa KNEW she was in trouble. Otherwise she wouldn’t have triggered the alarm. But she didn’t send out a comm, or fire the guns. Why leave the Phantom at all?”

Jacen thought for a moment. “She wasn’t in the shuttle when she triggered the alarm,” he said slowly, putting the pieces together. “She used her bracelet.”

“What?”

Jacen manipulated the leather bracelet on his wrist that projected the image of Hera, Elav, and Nessa he had first shown Rose on the Ghost when they were first getting to know each other. 

This time when he extended his wrist, instead of the holo of his family, a schematic of the Ghost was projected.

“Nessa has a bracelet like this one,” he explained. “It’s coded to our genetic signature. Mom has one as well. It lets you remotely control a couple functions on the Phantom and the Ghost.”

Jacen flicked the image mid-air, and the ship glowed orange, then disappeared. “I just locked the Ghost down,” he explained. “I can lock and unlock it, trigger the alarm, start the engines, even fire the guns remotely.”

“Well, she didn’t fire the guns,” Rose informed him. “So she must not have been anywhere near the Phantom when she realized she was in trouble.” She tilted her head and scrutinized the bracelet. “It’s a brilliant piece of tech.”

“Yeah, my Mom and Auntie Sabine figured it out.” Jacen pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I can’t sense anything around here. There’s no echoes of Nessa feeling afraid.” 

“Is that good?” Rose asked, hesitantly.

Jacen couldn’t even meet her eyes. He just hit the wall with his fist. 

“WHY would they take her?” he growled. His shoulders slumped and he hung his head in shame, running his fingers through his bright green hair in frustration. “Chopper’s right, this IS all my fault. They must have been looking for me. They got her first instead.”

“No,” said Rose, squeezing his right hand in hers. “Please. Whoever took her is responsible, not you.”

Jacen squeezed her hand back, but didn’t meet her eyes. The anguish was plain to see on his face.

Hera strode into the shuttle. “She hasn’t been missing long,” she said, crossing her arms. “Nessa spent the morning with Oola racing around, practicing close formation drills. They were supposed to meet up with everyone else here for some target practice, but Oola’s astromech blew a fuse and she had to lag back and fix it. When Oola arrived, the Phantom was here, but Nessa wasn’t. Nilim and Shakka arrived shortly after. They noticed that the silent alarm had been triggered, and called back to the Tarkona compound. Chopper commed us, and we came. At most, Oola left her alone for twenty minutes, and she’s been gone less than a hour.”

“Are you sure they’re telling the truth?” Jacen demanded. 

Hera shook her head, her green lekku shaking decisively. “Jacen,” she warned him, “don’t think like that. No Jedi mind tricks. I know them. They’re my students. I know their families. They’re all friends with Nessa. None of them would do her any harm.”

“It’s good that she hasn’t been gone long,” said Rose, trying to reassure them both.

“We don’t know anything about who took her,” said Hera, striding up to the pilot’s chair and checking, as Rose already had, what the instrument readouts would tell her. “We have no idea what they would want.”

Jacen kicked the wall again, and then immediately grabbed his foot. “OW,” he groaned.

“Jacen, don’t kick the ship,” said Hera, in a tone that let Rose know she’d said that exact phrase many times before.

However, the sound of Jacen’s foot hitting the wall had triggered a memory from earlier that week. 

“Chopper!” she called, stepping outside the Phantom.

Immediately the astromech replied from his position on top the Phantom. 

“Did you find anything?”

Nothing but an old shuttle.

“Scan it again,” Rose said. “I know what we’re looking for now! Something small is stuck on it. It will be very hard to see—might even be cloaked, and it would be about the size of a thermal detonator or other kind of small-scale charge.” 

Chopper beeped his doubts. 

“Yes, I know, it’s impossible to camouflage something that small, but…there’s some experimental tech that the First Order was working on. Just trust me. I think I know how they found Nessa, whoever they are. Check up top.”

Chopper fired up his jets and landed atop the little shuttle, and began scanning it. Rose started her search on the wings, running her fingers over the exterior, trusting she would feel it physically if she was right.

“What are you doing?” asked Jacen. 

Before she could respond, Chopper tootled his victory.

“Great!” said Rose. “Can you, I don’t know, spray paint it or something? So we can see it more easily?”

Chopper had his own ideas, however, and got out his welding torch.

“No!” shouted Rose. “Don’t try to remove it, it might have a—”

The small explosion and sudden burst of a few pieces of small shrapnel flying through the air startled the Twi’lek cousins as well as the group of young pilots.

“Anyone hit?” called Jacen, running out of the shuttle.

Everyone was fine, though scared.

“What was that?” Hera called, poking her head out of the back of the shuttle.

“We found how they tracked Nessa,” Rose explained. 

“And then Chopper accidentally blew it up,” Jacen added, glaring at the droid—who, for once, didn’t have a sassy answer. Chopper just said something that sounded suspiciously like an apology.

“What was it? And how did you know it would be there?” asked Hera, raising an eyebrow at them.

Rose turned to Jacen. “Do you remember flying away from Coruscant, when we were being chased by that pilot?”

“Yes, of course,” he said, straightening up and puffing out his chest slightly—seemingly without even noticing it. Rose smothered her grin. “Some of my best flying under pressure.”

“Yes, but remember we got hit?”

“What? Oh, yeah, the dud.”

“It wasn’t a dud at all,” Rose said urgently.

She pointed up to where Chopper was now gingerly picking up a few shards of the destroyed tracker from the top of the Phantom. 

“That explosion was it?” said Jacen, frowning.

“Was it time-delayed?” Hera asked.

“It was a tracker,” Rose said, “and it had a self-masking function so that we wouldn’t find it when we landed. Whoever was following us, or having us watched, must have waited until we came back out of hyperspace on Ryloth, and then sent someone here. The tracker attached to the Phantom. So when Nessa took the shuttle, she had no idea she was on a marked ship.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. We should have checked more carefully, done a thorough scan as soon as we landed. We were too complacent.”

“I’m impressed you thought of it at all,” said Hera. She stared at Chopper. “And now our one clue for who took my daughter has been blown to bits.”

“We might still be able to track her,” Rose said, thinking it through. “If she activated the silent alarm remotely from her bracelet, then perhaps she still has it on her and her captor doesn’t know about it. Maybe I can rig up something from Jacen’s bracelet and the comm system on the Ghost to trace Nessa’s bracelet signal. It might help us find her. At least, if she’s in range. If she’s left Ryloth already…”

Jacen finished the sentence for her. “Then it could be too late.” He turned to his mother. “We have to go back to the Ghost NOW.”

“Rey and Elav are supposed to meet us here,” Rose said, feeling a pang of guilt. “Let me just comm Rey about what we’re doing.” 

“No time,” Hera said, shaking her head vigorously. “Comm her on the way. We need to go back to the house. We can take the Phantom.” She turned and started yelling directions for the pilots, who scrambled for their old X-wings, and the Tarkona cousins, who jumped on the speeders. 

Rose nodded, and ran back onto the shuttle, Jacen close on her heels. Chopper flew up the ramp as well. Jacen sat in the pilot’s chair and Rose wisely sat in the back.

“Jacen Syndulla, what do you think you’re doing?” Hera demanded as she strode up the ramp. 

“Sorry,” he muttered, moving over to the co-pilot’s chair. 

Jacen glanced back at Rose and shrugged his shoulders while his mother took over the controls. Rose took a deep breath and activated her comm system, reaching out to Rey. She just hoped this plan she had set in motion would, in fact, work.

“Rey?” she said. 

“Rose! We’re almost there!” Rey sounded just as frantic as Rose had felt a few minutes ago, but now that she could see a way to help find Jacen’s sister, Rose was feeling calm steal over her, that confidence she got when she could see a clear way to solve a problem.

“Go back to the house. I think I know how to find Nessa.”

“Got it! We’ll meet you there!”

“Jacen, can you give me your bracelet?” Rose asked him. 

Jacen shrugged it off his wrist and tossed it back to her. 

“I’ll be careful with it,” she said, flipping over the puck on the bracelet and examining the fasteners. The leather was still warm from his skin, though the little puck in the center felt cool to her touch.

“I know you will,” Jacen replied absently, absorbed in flipping some switches to increase their acceleration slightly.

In no time they were back at the compound, and Rose felt that she’d figured out everything she could from the bracelet without actually dismantling it. Hera guided the Phantom to dock back on the Ghost and Rose was sliding out of the shuttle as soon as the door opened, and scrambling down the ladder to the main compartment of the Ghost.

“Do you need any help?” asked Jacen, climbing down after her. 

“Just get my tool bag from my room,” said Rose. 

Jacen reached out and grabbed her arm. 

“Thank you,” he said fervently, his blue eyes drilling into hers. His gaze fell, and Rose glanced down, realizing that he was looking at the Otomok medallion where it nestled between her breasts.

“My sister—you understand—” Jacen’s voice was scratchy.

“We’ll get your sister back, I promise,” Rose said, gripping his shoulder. “I promise.”

Jacen nodded jerkily and headed to her room, while she walked forward to the cockpit where the main comms were. Every moment mattered, because Nessa was getting further and further away. Luckily CB-23 had already come back on board the Ghost. With the adaptable little droid’s help, in no time Rose had jerry-rigged a signal tracer system, using Jacen’s bracelet to hone in on the signal.

Jacen hovered over her, and if she hadn’t known exactly how wrenching it was to fear for a sister, she would have snapped at him for being so distracting. Hera kept back in the galley. 

“Almost there…almost there…just about…got it!” Rose whooped triumphantly, and the pink-and-turquoise rollie gave a high-pitched whistle in jubilation.

“What?” gasped Hera. “You found Nessa? Where?” She stepped forward, crowding around to see the map that CB-23 was now projecting in the middle of the cockpit. 

“Looks like they’re off-planet,” Rose said, pointing to where the glowing yellow dot hovered. “But they haven’t yet made the jump to hyperspace. I don’t know what they’re waiting for. Rendezvous with another ship, maybe?”

Then Rose heard a clamor and Jacen perked up, saying, “They’re back.” Rose didn’t even have time to wonder who before Rey and Elav burst into the cockpit, BB-8 zipping in front of them.

“Rose found Nessa,” Jacen said triumphantly, giving Rose a look so fond and proud that she found herself flushing, turning red with pleasure. “She’s still in-system.”

Elav slumped and muttered what had to have been a thanksgiving in his native tongue, and then pulled Hera into a quick embrace, their foreheads touching.

“Let’s go get her,” said Rey, her eyes alight and her knuckles nearly white around the hilt of her lightsaber, which she held at the ready as if she expected to be in battle at any moment. A strange air was about her, a gleeful, barely-contained energy that Rose took a moment to recognize as excitement for vengeance.

“We need to be careful,” Hera warned, striding forward to the pilot’s chair. “They already know what the Ghost looks like. We need to figure out what’s going on here.”

Rey looked over at Rose. “The baffler cloak?” Rey asked.

“Yes,” said Rose, scrambling to her feet. “C’mon, SeeBee! Just give me a moment to get them working!” 

“What bafflers?” asked Elav, sounding completely confused. 

Rose ran down the hallway to the engine compartment, leaving Rey to explain how during the war, with Cobalt Squadron, Rose had created a way to mask the signals and trace of ships. It had nearly worked in the escape to Crait, when everyone was escaping the Raddus in accordance with General Holdo’s plan. But whoever they were going after NOW wouldn’t be expecting them or know they were there, and Rose had created a few…upgrades in the intervening year and a half.

Rose had installed the tech on the Ghost during the flight to Ryloth, and in under ninety seconds she had it running on the Ghost. She could already hear the engines powering on, and the back ramp to the cargo hold closing. 

She ran back toward the cockpit as they started to lift off. 

“Where do you need me?” 

“Rey and I have the main guns,” called Jacen, climbing up the ladder to the turret. “Co-pilot with my mom!”

Elav sat in the galley, bracing himself against the dejarik table and looking extremely nervous. Clearly he did not share his wife or daughter’s zest for flying.

Rose slid into the co-pilot chair, buckling in quickly as they began rocketing through the atmosphere. Rey had jumped into the gunner’s seat below them, manning the front guns. Rose concentrated on just doing what Hera was barking at her, and trying as best she could to anticipate the Twi’lek pilot’s needs.

They rapidly broke atmo and raced towards the rendezvous point with Nessa’s bracelet. Rose frantically hoped that she was still okay, alive, unharmed. She didn’t want to think what a bounty hunter would do with a defenseless teenager.

“Get ready,” Hera said, zeroing in on the coordinates. 

Rose held her breath, terrified that at any moment they’d lose the signal on Nessa’s bracelet. 

As they raced across space, Ryloth below them and the black skies full of distant stars, the moments seemed to drag on forever. Rose surreptitiously wiped her left hand on her pants, hoping she wasn’t leaving a sweat stain on her favorite tan pants, but truly, the anxiety was overwhelming. 

She sent a silent wish that Jacen would not soon join her in the terrible club of people whose sisters died in front of them, in space, where they could not help or save them.

“There!” called out Rey, pointing in front of them. “It’s the escape pod! She’s in the escape pod!”

A single escape pod was floating, chugging along slowly under its feeble engines and heading straight to the Ghost.

“Grab her,” Hera said, turning to Rose. Rose turned on the clamps and, her hands sweating now more than ever, carefully guided them into position, pulling the little escape pod to the compatible airlock. 

“Stay on the guns,” Hera called down to Rey. “We don’t know if someone’s going to show up.”

She nodded over to Rose, who slid into the pilot’s seat as Hera ran back down the hall. Rose strained to hear what was going on back there, as Elav, Jacen, and Hera all scrambled to see who—or what—was in the escape pod.

Moments passed, and then—

“MOM! DAD! JACEN!” 

Rose slumped in her seat, exhaling. She looked down and could see Rey looking similarly relieved. Rey tilted her head back and grinned, her brown eyes sparkling. Rose noticed that Rey was wearing a white outfit today, for the first time in a long time, though it was still one of the high-collared, long-sleeved ones she seemed to favor these days. Yet it seemed to bring out a lightness in her, a joy that Rose hadn’t seen during the tense flight from Coruscant.

“You’re a genius,” Rey said, beaming with sincerity. “That was brilliant to figure out how to trace her using the bracelet.”

“Yes,” said Rose, fingering her Otomok medallion. “It’s a special family bracelet. Jacen and Hera have ones just like it. Sabine Wren made them.”

“Well, I hope she made that at least without explosives inside,” Rey said wryly. 

“That’s right,” Rose said slowly. “Sabine also made that comm. And…we’re trying to find her…maybe I can use a similar method to actively trace the comm, instead of just waiting until she transmits and hoping that we can trace them. But no,” she sighed, slumping down. “It only worked because Nessa hadn’t left the system. I don’t think it would work at much of a distance.”

“Maybe there’s some kind of way to boost or strengthen the signal?” Rey suggested. “Like using the Ghost’s comm system?”

“Maybe…” said Rose, turning it over in her mind. “I’m not sure that would be enough, though. We need to make it somehow more precise…and more powerful…”

The two women sat there in silence, considering the technical problem. They could both hear the excited, overlapping chatter of the happy family reunion further back in the ship, punctuated by Chopper’s hollering over all of them.

Rose found herself blinking back tears. She looked down and noticed Rey had her eyes closed. Meditating? A slight smile was on her lips. Rose wasn’t quite sure what to make of this newly hyped up, but strangely happy Rey. She was emotionally volatile in a way that made Rose wary. Force users and strong emotions did not seem to be a very safe mixture.

CB-23 nudged Rose’s foot and gave an encouraging whistle, and Rose patted the little flat-headed rollie, appreciating the encouragement. “You’re right, SeeBee,” she said. “I’ll find an answer. Somehow.”

Nessa burst into the cockpit, her family on her heels. “Rose!” she exclaimed, throwing herself into Rose’s arms in a hug so enthusiastic that the smaller human had to actually brace herself against the instrument panel not to slide off her chair. 

“You did it!” Nessa said. “You found me! I was so sick of floating out there in the escape pod. The steering wasn’t working properly. I knew the gravity well would suck me back in eventually, but I was afraid he’d wake up before then and come back for me.”

“Who’s he?” Rey demanded, at the same time as Rose said, “Where’s the ship you escaped from?”

Hera returned to the pilot’s chair. “We’re going to find it right now,” she said ominously. “Rey, are you still good on guns?”

“Yes,” Rey called up.

Rose stood up and gave Nessa her seat. “You really should be co-pilot,” she offered. 

Nessa grinned and sat down. “I like her,” she informed her mother, winking back at Rose. “She lets me fly the Ghost! You and Jacen never do.”

“Seeing how much trouble you got into flying off on your own, I think we had the right idea,” Hera replied wryly, but there was no real heat behind it. 

Rose stood behind Nessa’s chair. Chopper had successfully bullied CB-23 and BB-8 out of the cockpit, but when he tried to tell her to leave, she just shot him a glare and he shut up.

Hera banked into a turn and following Nessa’s directions as she swung around to one of Ryloth’s smaller moons. 

“Nessa, is that it?” Hera asked, pointing to a light cruiser with green stripes painted on the sides.

“That’s the bastard,” Nessa confirmed.

“I’m ready to take him OUT,” Jacen yelled down.

“HOLD YOUR FIRE!” Hera called back. “Remember, we don’t WANT to get into a shooting war. We need him alive and able to talk, whoever he is.”

“How did you escape?” asked Rose, watching as the ship came ever closer.

Nessa laughed. “Old trick from one of Mom’s stories. I hit him over the head, triggered some canisters of knock-out gas, and jumped in an escape pod. I realized too late, though, that the escape pod didn’t have a comm system and you had no way of knowing where I was.”

“Who was it?”

“How should I know?” said Nessa. “Some off-worlder, a bounty hunter. Human. Middle-aged. He found me at the Phantom. I had just stepped off and I was waiting for Oola when he got the jump on me. Stunned me and dragged me back to his ship. By the time I came to, we were leaving atmo.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t sure that—careful, Mom!—the Phantom alarm would even work at that range, but I guess it did.”

“Good thinking,” Hera praised her daughter, and Rose could see Nessa straighten in her chair, her lekku twitching with happiness.

“Extending grappling hook…NOW!” called up Rey. The magnetic hook engaged with a satisfying clunk.

“Gotcha,” muttered Nessa. “Airlock seal?”

“No,” Hera decided. “We’re going to tow him back home. We’re not going to board here.”

“That just gives him more time to try to get away!” Nessa objected.

“It gives us a chance to deal with him on our turf, with our people,” Hera replied. “Then we can take our time questioning him. We’re not after vengeance here, Nessa. We need answers.”

Nessa bit her lip, and Rose could see the anguish in her face. She realized that Nessa might be more shook up from her kidnapping than her jaunty attitude suggested.

“We’ll all be safer if we can get answers,” Rose said gently. “We know HOW he found you, but not why. The sooner we know why people are looking for the Ghost, the better.”

“Okay,” said Nessa, letting out a long exhale. She got up abruptly. “Rose, can you take over for a bit? I’m going to go sit back with Dad.”

“Sure,” said Rose. Barely before she’d taken the co-pilot seat, Nessa had left and shut the door to the cockpit, leaving the three women—Rose, Hera, and Rey in the gunner well below—alone with Chopper.

Hera sighed. “Let’s reel him in,” she said, returning to the task with a frown. She narrowed her eyes at the offending ship. “I have a LOT of questions for this bounty hunter, whoever he is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Action scenes are very difficult for me to write, so it took a while to be satisfied with this chapter! I know I'm updating slowly, but I'm still thinking about the story and I have the next several sections planned out. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's still reading and keeping up with this tale, because it's VERY motivating.
> 
> Also, if you're wondering about when the Reylo action will resume--fear not. In another chapter or so, that plot thread will also get picked up again in a...significant way. *dun dun DUN*

**Author's Note:**

> I have several chapters already written, but I'm not sure how long it will be; it's my first time writing fanfic!
> 
> Definitely a Fix-It Fic with HEA for Reylo, and lots of Rose Tico Appreciation. The title comes from Kelly Marie Tran talking about how her parents worked hard to come to America, and to give their children the opportunity "to get to have a dream."
> 
> I'm going to tag more characters as they get introduced, but letting you know everyone who's coming too far in advance would, I think, spoil some of the fun of it!
> 
> I haven't read all the extended material on Rose Tico, only some of it; and I've only seen TROS once, and have no intention of seeing it again. This fic is compliant with Star Wars: Resistance up to right before TROS (I haven't been able to watch the most recent episodes yet). 
> 
> You don't need to be familiar with anything besides the movies to follow this fic.
> 
> Minor spoilers for Star Wars: Resistance, major spoilers for Star Wars: Rebels, major spoilers for TROS. Assumed knowledge of all Star Wars movies, Last Shot, TLJ novelization, Resistance Reborn, Spark of the Resistance, Star Wars Aftermath books, Bloodline, that Batuu exists, and other extended universe materials. Trying to save what I love here.


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